mm 



m< 












MM 



■»' ^-s/ v. w y/ 



m^'^j 



'^'^'^"^^ 



JBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



J7/,e^ ,Cl^C 



^ 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



,u^'cM^y^ 



voiuy*.> 






-,,/--w,,V'V v/^^■■-■ 









MMW^WWWl 



/;V^;^;^. 






m 



HnH^M^:^^'' 



J^^K^„ 



y^Mi 



^UWvJo, 







r%>. 




PROCEEDINGS 
AT THE 



^"^ mr""^' 



OF THE 



%jf4^ 



mm 



■^f'W^ 



NEW HAMPSHIRE, 

September i2th, 1867. 



1868. 



'^^^-^ 





THE 



CENTENNIAL CELEBEATION 



OF THE 



(■/■ 



TOWN OF CAMPTON, N. H., 



September 12th, 1867. 






1^7 



CONCORD : 
A- G. JONES, PRINTER, - = ■ - EXCHANGE BUILDING. 

1868. 



OS 



CAMP TON CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 



At the Annual Town Meeting, held in March, 1867, the town of Campton 
passed the following vote : 

" That a Committee of six be chosen to make arrangements for cele- 
brating the One Hundredth Anniversary of the settlement of the toAvn." 

In accordance with the above vote, the following gentlemen were chosen 
as said Committee : 



Stephen Avert, Jr., 
Thomas S. Pulsifer, 
John F. Morton. 



Amos Flint, 
David Bartlett, 
Erastus Dole, 

The said Committee of Arrangements subsequently took measures to 
carry into effect the wishes of the town, as follows : 

The 12th of September, 1867, was selected as the day for the Cel- 
ebration. 

An invitation was extended to the Rev. Isaac Willey of Pembroke, a 
native of the town, to deliver a Historical Address. Mr, Charles Cut- 
ter was requested to examine the town records, to aid in procuring ma- 
terial for such address. 

The following gentlemen were chosen to act as officers on the occasion 
of the celebration : 

PRESIDENT OF THE DAY, 
TOLIMAN WILLEY, ESQ., of Boston. 



VICE PRESIDENTS. 



Hon, E. C. Baker, Boston, 
Jacob Gidding, Esq., Portland, 
Sylvester Marsh, Littleton, 
Rev. Austin Willey, California, 
B. F. Palmer, LL. D., Philadelphia, 
Gen. Moses Cook, Laconia, 
Moses Bartlett, Illinois, 
Ephraim Cook, Wentvvorth, 



John Cook, Campton, 
Samuel Cook, 
Jacob Avery, 
David Bartlett, 
Samuel Moulton, 
Samuel Keniston, 
Enoch Taylor, 
P. C. Blaisdell, 



IV. CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 

DiODATE WiLLEY, CamptoD, DANIEL AvERY, Esq., Campton, 

Moses Blaisdell, " Chables Stickney, " 

Edmund Durgin, " James Burbeck, " 

John Pulsifer, " Kobert Smith, " 

Jacob Adams, " William Southmayd. " 



To Read Charter of the Town.— Henry W. Blair, Plymouth. 
Toast- Master. —CV.KKLE.B Cutter, Campton. 
Chief 3farsAaZ.— Joseph Cook, Campton. 



The grounds adjoining the Town House were selected for the place of 
the Celebration, and upon these were erected a stand and seats for the 
speakers and audience upon the one side, and a spacious booth for the 
dinner tables upon the other. 

The citizens thi-oughout the town were invited to furnish the tables with 
a supply of provisions svxfficient for the expected multitude. 

The absent sons and daughters of Campton, far and near, were invited to 
return home and participate in the exercises of the occasion. 
The Plymouth Band was engaged to furnish music. 



EXERCISES OF THE MORNING. 



The twelfth of September was ushered in by a bright and 
beautiful morning, the commencement of an auspicious 
day. At an early hour a large gathering of the people of 
the town and others from abroad, assembled in the neigh- 
borhood of the Congregational Meeting House, and were 
there formed into a procession by the Chief Marshal and 
his Assistants. 

After a series of marching and countermarching to the 
music of the Band, the procession was led to the Town 
House, and thereupon the officers of the day and speak- 
ers were invited to the stand and the audience seated be- 
fore them. 

The Exercises were opened by an appropriate prayer by 
the Rev. Daniel Pulsifer of Danbury. 

Then followed an Address of Welcome to such of the 
emigrant sons and daughters of Campton as had re- 
turned home for the occasion, by Rev. Quincy Blakely. 

Original Hymn sung by the Choir. 

Historical Address by Rev. Isaac Willey. 

Original Hymn sung by the Choir. 

These Exercises concluded, a recess of one hour was 
declared and all present were invited to repair to the ta- 
bles and share in the abundant collation with which the 
good citizens of the town had loaded them to repletion. 
There was no hesitation to comply with this invitation, 
and ample justice was done to the hospitality which had 
provided the feast. This interesting and satisfactory part 
of the proceedings being over the seats were again occu- 
pied, and then commenced the 



6 Centennial Celebration. 

EXERCISES OF THE AFTEKNOON. 

The President on resuming the chair entertained the 
audience with an eloquent and extended address of more 
than an hour, passing in review the character of the early 
settlers of New England and enlarging upon w^hat they 
had accomplished, giving sketches of some of the promi- 
nent early residents of Campton, reminiscences of his 
boyhood, anecdotes, &c. It is regreted that a sketch of 
his remarks could not be furnished for publication. 

Next in order came the toasts as given by the Toast- 
master, intervals between w^hich were enlivened with mu- 
sic b}^ the Band. 

1. The Clergymen of Campton. 

Responded to by Rev. Daniel Pulsifer of Danbury. 

2. The Common Schools of Campton. 

Responded to b}^ William C. Blair, Esq., of Laconia. 

3. The Sunday Schools of Campton. 
Responded to by Rev. Walter Chase of Woodstock. 

4. " Hoio dear to my heart are the scenes of my child- 
hood.'" 

Responded to by Rev. French Smith of Thornton. 

5. The Emigrant Sons and Daughters of Campton. 
Responded to by Davis Baker of Washington city. 

This gentleman's remarks having been unpremeditated, a 
sketch has not been obtained for publication. 

6. The Soldiers of the Union. 

Responded to by Henry W. Blair, Esq., of Plymouth. 

At this point the lateness of the hour precluded the 
introduction of other exercises, and the meeting was 
brought to a close. 

Letters were received from the following gentlemen, 
natives or former residents of Campton : 

From the Rev. Dr. Stone of Concord. 

From the Rev. Austin Willey of California. 



Address of Welcome. 7 

From Hon. E. C. Baker of Boston. 

From B. Frank Palmer, LL. D., Philadelphia. 

From S. D. Baker, Esq. 

Poem by B. Frank Palmer, LL. D., Philadelphia. 

A specimen of old fashioned horseback riding was dis- 
played before the company. A couple came along riding 
double, one upon the pillion, as our ftithers and mothers 
came through the woods to their home in this place. 

Several articles of antiquity were exhibited. Among 
them was a mortar in which, before mills were erect- 
ed, the corn was pounded for bread ; and there might 
have been presented a powder-horn beautifully carved, 
with appropriate inscriptions by Benjamin Baker, when 
in the Eevolntionary army. 



WELCOME 



BY REV. <3UINCY BLAKELT, 



Absent Sons and DaugliUfs of Campion liere returned : 

The Committee of Arrangements have assigned to me 
the pleasing duty of welcoming you home on this occa. 
sion. 

The act of incorporation of this town dates back a hun- 
dred years. You did well to accept the cordial invitation 
of your brothers and sisters at the old homestead and 
come home to-day to assist in the proper celebration of 
this hundredth anniversary. It is well to pause, occa- 
sionally, — once in a century at least, — in the onward 
march of events and erect a monument which shall per- 



8 Address of Welcome. 

petuate a knowledge of our deeds to future generations. 
A hundred years ago our fathers settled in this wilderness 
wild. Tlie same sky is indeed over our heads, the same 
soil is beneath our feet, but all else, how changed ! Our 
Fathers, where are they ? Not one remains. But a num- 
erous progeny are here, with pleasant memories of the 
past, and grateful to those who have gone before for the 
rich legacies they bequeathed to them ; and grateful ought 
we to be to Almighty God for his providential cai*e and 
abounding goodness unto us. 

Actuated, perhaps, by a desire to see more of the world 
or to better your condition, you went out from us ; but, 
as your presence here to-day plainly indicates, you have 
not ceased to be interested in the welfare of your native 
town. We who have remained by the dear old mother 
have endeavored to do our work well. The forests have 
given way before the woodman's axe, the hills and valleys 
have been subdued and cultivated, as you might infer from 
the appearance of yonder table ; the thump of the carpen- 
ter's tools, the ring of the anvil, and the rattle of the 
loom and spindle are still heard within our borders. A 
school-house is found in every district, and not a person 
can be found in town, between the ages of fourteen and 
twent^^-one who cannot read and write. Churches have 
been erected, within which may be found worshippers of 
the one living and true God, and where may be heard the 
" Glorious Gospel of the blessed God," from Sabbath to 
Sabbath. We are on the whole a prosperous people. We 
have married and given in marriage and unto us children 
have been born. When the natural increase of population 
has not been sufficient to fill the vacancies occasioned by 
emigration and death, there has been found enterprise 
suflScient to induce men and women from other places to 
come and settle among us, and the adopted children are 
not ashamed of the born native. 



Original Hymyi. 9 

This, to us, is a day of great rejoicing. If we should 
seem to you a little too hilarious and jovial, remember it 
is a high day, and a part of the exuberance of our joy 
arises from the privilege of welcoming j^ou home. 

Without wearying you with the formalities of a wel- 
come, in the name and in behalf of the Committee of the 
citizens of Campton, I bid you a hearty and cordial wel- 
come. Welcome to the festivities of this occasion. Wel- 
come to our homes and to all the enjoyments thereof. . 



ORIGINAL HYMN. 



O God, to Thee our voices raise, 
The song of glory and of praise, 
Our fathers worshipped at Thy throne, 
Their children bow to Thee alone. 

We thank Thee for Thy goodness shown 
In former years which long have flown. 
In name of those who gave us birth 
We thank the Lord of Heaven and earth. 

Th}^ heart, so kind in da3^s of 3'ore 
Still gives, as freely as before. 
Where'er we live, where'er we roam 
Thy hand protects our native home. 

God of our Fathers, now to Thee 
Let all the praise and glory be. 
In Thee, we've found all good before, 
In Thee, we'll trust forever more. 

1* 



10 Centennial Celebration. 

THE EARLY HISTORY OF CAMPTON. 



BY REV. ISAAC WILLEY. 



Felloiv Town*s-people : 

There is a sentiment in the human mind which readily 
answers to such a call as you have extended to your ab- 
sent children,^ — a call to gather with you to the graves of 
our fathers and recount, as far as we may be able, the 
events of their lives. More than three generations have 
owned and occupied the territory of this town. Here 
they have passed their lives, — cultivated these farms, se- 
cured the means of living, and served their generation. 

Here they have endured their trials, many and severe. 
Here they worshipped and trusted the God of their 
fathers, and from these dwellings have many gone up to 
be joined with the ransomed of the Lord. 

A goodly number from abroad whose bones and mus- 
cles grew to strength on these hills and who had here 
their early training, have come home on this occasion. 
Others would if they could. But from their distant dwell- 
ings in the South, in the West and on the shores of the 
Pacific, they will to-day think of us and talk of us and 
the exclamation will be heard in many a family, " How I 
should like to be in old Carapton to-day !" 

We are all happy in meeting so many fathers and 
mothers and children of the place. We thank the citi- 
zens of the town for the happy arrangements for this oc- 
casion. Whether or not departed spirits are conversant 
with passing scenes among men, it is quite certain that 
they are conscious beings, and they who have gone from 
this place must remember the events which we this day 
commemorate. 



Condition of the Country, — French War. 11 

CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY WHEN THE TOWN BEGAN TO 

BE SETTLED. 

To-day our minds are thrown back upon the past. One 
hundred years ago, and what was the condition of this 
town, and the regions adjacent ? A continuous wilderness, 
with the exception of some small openings. A few families 
had come into this town, a few into Plymouth, Hebron, 
Rumney, Sandwich, Holderness and Bridgewater. But to 
the north no opening had been made for civilized men 
this side of Canada, except for three families who had 
gone fifty miles into the wilderness to commence a settle- 
ment in what is now Lancaster, in Coos county. But in 
the southern portion of the State, it is well known that 
the towns were settled more than one hundred years ear- 
lier than in the interior and northern portions. The best 
lands, the rich intervales, the most valuable timber re- 
mained untouched for more than one hundred years, while 
the people in the lower towns secured but narrow means 
of subsistence upon their worn out farms. This you may 
take as an indication of want of enterprise. But we shall 
soon see how their enterprise was developed under other 
circumstances. 

THE FRENCH WAR. 

You must know that during a large portion of our 
colonial history, the wilderness was ranged by powerful 
tribes of Indians who were naturally inimical to those 
who came to possess their lands, and who were known to 
have been instigated to deeds of cruelty by the French 
Jesuits in Canada. Until 1760, Canada was a province 
of France. The French had also possessions in the South, 
so had Spain, and the people were Eoman Catholics. 
There was a design, as there is reason to believe, on the 
part of the people of that faith, to unite Canada and 



12 Ceritennial Celebration, 

Louisiana and other conntries at tlie South by a chain of 
fortifications along the Mississippi, the Ohio and the 
great Lakes, so as to shut up the English possessions and 
protestantism within narrow limits and secure the vast 
regions beyond. Tliis gave rise to the French war in 
1755. A war in which the English Colonies took an ac- 
tive part, and the result of which disappointed all the 
plans for the extensions of the power of France on this 
continent. Little could have been seen at that time of 
the vast consequences which were to result to the world 
from the valor of Wolfe and of his army in the battle up- 
on the plains of Abraham. Not the city of Quebec only 
but the province came into the possession of Great Brit- 
tain. Had that battle terminated differently, had there 
been less valor in those soldiers, less heroism in their com- 
mander, what a different chain of events must have fol- 
lowed ! As it respects these colonies, the Indians had 
then none to incite them to deeds of cruelty. The}^ were 
also impressed with the growing strength of the colonies, 
and ceased their hostilities. 

EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 

The people might now venture into the vast forests of New 
England. In their various excursions against the Indians, 
they had made themselves acquainted with the country 
and knew where the best lands were to be found. The 
governor of this State at that time was disposed to en- 
courage immigration, if for no other reason than the per- 
quisites which he received. In consideration of a large 
ox, driven from Hampton to Governor Wentworth at 
Portsmouth, we are told that the territory now making up 
New Hampton and Center Harbor was granted. A 
fact which shows the energy of the people of our State at 
this time and relieves them from any just imputation of a 



Clearing the Land. — Charter of the Town. 13 

lack of it, is that in fully one-third of the towns of this 
State, settlements were commenced within ten j^ears after 
the close of the French war. 

In these openings which they had made in the forest, 
you would have discovered a small new house and the be- 
ginning of a family of ten or twelve children. Roads 
would be seen to be marked out, bridges and mills begin- 
ning to be built in places where in a few j^ears there would 
be a well regulated and comfortable community. A^Tien 
John Mann and his wife came from Hebron in Connecti- 
cut, to Orford in this State, in October, 1765, there was 
no road from Charlestown but a horse track, for fifty 
miles. He said that at that time there were but two 
openings in Claremont, one in Cornish, one in Plainfield, 
three in Lebanon, one in Hanover, and three in Lyme. 

CLEARING THE LAND. 

Could you have looked from the top of the hills, or 
have been so elevated in a balloon as to have looked down 
npon the territory making up our State, you would have 
seen the men in more than seventy towns cutting into the 
dense forests, felling each his acres of trees. At the dry 
season he would put fire to them, and the smoke from a 
thousand farms would be seen ascending to the skies. 
The great logs which were left were cut up, drawn together 
into piles to be burned in the night. These, if they had 
been regarded as camp-fires, would have indicated an army 
upon ever}^ man's plantation. In this wa}?- was used up 
an amount of wood and lumber, which, could it have re- 
mained to this day, would have been a vast source of 
wealth, exceeding in value the whole countr}?^ at that time. 

CHARTER OF THE TOWN. 

The town was originally granted to Gen. Jabez Spen- 
cer of East Iladdani, Connecticut, in 1761. But he, dy- 



14 Centennial Celebration. 

ing before the needful settlements were effected, the title 
became invalid. This accounts for the delay in the set- 
tlement of the town, a few families only being here for a 
number of j^ears. But the heirs of the first grantee and 
others interested, secured a new charter in 1767. 

EARLY settlers'. 

The early inhabitants were mainly from two sources. 
From the State of Connecticut, near the mouth of the 
River of that name, and from the State of Massachusetts, 
in the vicinit}^ of the mouth of the Merrimack River, in- 
cluding a number of towns in the lower part of this State. 

The intervales upon the streams which flow through the 
town had strong attractions to the early settlers. 

THE GREAT RIVER. 

For a long time there was much inconvenience in pass- 
ing over these streams. They were subject to sudden 
and great rises of water, overflowing their banks and 
carrying away bridges and mills. Mau}^ such occurrences 
are within the recollection of the old people. One man 
had his corn, while he was husking it, swept into his cel- 
lar and mingled with the mud. Families have been taken 
from their houses in boats. One woman, as the water 
rose, held her calf in the top of a tree. Property has 
been destroyed and lives have been lost. Yet who would 
be willing that this main branch of the Merrimack should 
be dried up, or diverted in its course to other regions ? 
In its onward flow from all its branches, it probably car- 
ries more machinery than any other river in the world. 
Of it the late Judge William M. Richardson, in his early 
days, wrote in the following stanzas : 

Sweet Merrimack 1 Thy gentle stream 
Is lit for better poet's theme; 



The First Inhabltcmts from Connecticut, 15 

For rich thy waves and gentle too 
As Konic's proud Tiber ever knew, 
And thy cnrrent's placid swell 
Would flow in classic song as well, 
Yet on thy banks, so green, so sweet 
Where wood nymphs, and naiads meet, 
E'er since creation's earliest dawn 
No son of song was ever born ; 
No muse's fairy feet e'er trod 
Thy modest margin's verdant sod; 
And mid times silent, feathery flight 
Like many a coy maiden, ijure and light 
Sequestered in some blest retreat ? 
Far from the city and the great, 
Thy virgin waves, the vales among 
Have flowed neglected and unsung. 

THE FIRST INHABITANTS FROM CONNECTICUT. 

The two men who came first to this town were Isaac 
Fox and Winthrop Fox. They were from Connecticut. 
As it is generally believed by the old, they came in the 
Spring, 1762. It is reported that the people in Stephens- 
town, now Franklin, regarded it as perilous for them to re- 
main in such a wilderness through the winter, and two men 
came up upon snow-shoes to look to their wants and found 
them tough and hearty, living upon fish, wild meat, and 
corn bread made from corn pounded in a mortar. 

The following Spring came the wife of Isaac Fox, his 
son Isaac, and Mr. Enoch Tajdor. Isaac Fox, senior, 
settled on the east side of the river, near where the 
bridge now stands. Isaac Fox, Jr., settled near on the 
opposite side, and Mr. Taylor some two miles above on 
the west side. The traditions in regard to the time of 
the settlement of the town are somewhat conflictinar. 
But all accounts agree that when the first settlers came 
here there were no settlements between this place and 
Stephenstown or Franklin, and we know that some seven 
or eight families came to Plymouth, from Hollis in 1764. 
Fox having been here one year before his family, would 



16 Centennial Celebration. 

fix the time of his coming, as before stated, in 1 762, and that 
of his famil}' in 1763. This accords with the traditions 
of the oldest families in town. But it is generally be- 
lieved that Enoch Taylor was with Mr. Fox that first 
winter. The fii'st wedding in town is said to have been 
solemnized under a tree in the open field. The first male, 
child born in town was Benaijah, son of Isaac Fox, 2d, 
January 20, 1769. A daughter of Hobart Spencer was 
born the same year. The two sons of Gen. Spencer se- 
cui-ed valuable intervale lands. Hobart upon the Pemi- 
gewasset, and Joseph upon Beebe's River. Among others 
who had bought a right of land in town, was the widowed 
mother of Abel Willey. He was seventeen years of age 
when he came up with the Spencers in 1766. He cut 
down trees upon a piece of land next above Hobart Spen- 
cer's, and returned in the Autumn to his distant home. In 
the Spring he came up again, cleared his land, raised corn 
and grain and again spent the winter at home in Connecti- 
cut. In the Spring of 1768, he came with his mother and 
sisters, who had aided in the purchase of the right of 
land. 'This, it has been reported, made the fifth family 
in town. Hobart Spencer, with his family, came, probably, 
at the same time. The sister of Abel Willey became the 
wife of Benjamin Hoit and made the first family in Thorn- 
ton. Their first child was the first born in that town. 
Joseph Spencer was among the earliest in town. The 
next 3'ear after Abel, came Darius Willey with his family 
of three children, his wife being the sister of Abel. They 
came upon two horses. The father and son upon one 
horse, and th6 mother with a babe in her arms, and daugh- 
ter upon the other, and bringing with them articles for 
house-keeping and for farming and subduing the wildei- 
ness. Their journey led them, as we have reason to be- 
lieve, in the most convenient route from the region of New 
London, Connecticut, to Worcester, Massachusetts and to 



First Inhabitants from Connecticut. 1 7 

Nashua, New Hampshire, and then up the Merrimack 
river and its principal branch, the Pemigewassett, to this 
place, — the last forty miles being through a wilderness, 
and no road or bridge over any stream. They reached 
the town in the evening, much fatigued, and when upon 
the hill, as they were approaching Abel Willey's house, 
standing near where it now does, to their great joy they 
discovered through the trees the light of his fire. They 
gave a shout which was heard and returned, and the echo 
has not ceased in the ears of their posterity. 

In October of 1769, Darius Willey was appointed one 
of a committee of the proprietors of the town to lay out 
the land and to give titles to it, to treat with adjoining 
towns as to boundaries — to lay out roads and see that 
work was done upon them. With him was associated 
William Hobart and Samuel Emerson, Esq. For their 
services they were to receive four shillings per day when 
out surveying and three shillings for other services. In 
this service, Mr. Willey continued ten or twelve years and 
aided in laying out a large part of the town. He died in 
1823, aged 91. 

Jesse Willey was soon here. Ebenezer Taylor was 
early in town, was the father of Oliver and Edward and 
of several daughters. 

Asa Spencer from East Haddam was here in 1770. He 
went into the army in the Revolutionary war, and died 
there. 

Israel Brainard from East Haddam, was here as early 
as 1772. 

Chiliab Brainard was here about the same time. They 
were of the same family connection with Rev. David Brain- 
ard. Chiliab Brainard, an active, promising man with a 
family upon his hands, become deranged and remained 
so for many years and until his death. 



18 Centennial Celebration. 

FIRST INHABITANTS FROM MASSACHUSETTS. 

The settlers from Massachusetts were early in town. 
Ebenezer Little, the elder, from Newburyport, was a 
large proprietor in the town and encouraged its settle- 
ment. He did not settle here himself; his son Mo- 
ses came here and built mills and opened a store as early 
as 1768 or 1769, at the place where the late Judge Liver- 
more afterwards resided. The dwelling house was built 
by him in the most substantial manner, and of such lum- 
ber as cannot now be obtained in the place. He died in 
1813, leaving a property it was said, of $60,000. For 
more than half a century the place of his residence, 
though on the border of two towns, was a place of busi- 
ness for a large region around. For many years there 
was neither store or mills above this place. But in the 
changes of time, the importance of the place has greatly 
diminished. Under the influence of this family, large 
numbers came to the town from Newbmyport and vicinity. 

David Perkins from Hampton and his wife from New- 
buryport, came to the place and settled in the neighbor- 
hood of Mr. Little, and had charge of the buildings which 
he was then erecting. His name appears for twenty years 
in the early records of the town. He afterwards removed 
to Thornton, and was for many years a Deacon in the 
Congregational church in that place. 

Daniel Wyatt from Newburyport, came to the place 
as early as 1769, and settled somewhat more than a 
mile above Mr. Little's, on the river. He became the mil- 
ler where the gi-ain was ground for the families in all the 
region, and daily walked from his dwelling to the mill for 
more than forty years. He was as regular at his post, 
whatever might be the weather, as the return of day. 
What boy during the first half century of the town did 
not know Deacon Wyatt ? Often has each one as he came 



Fii'st hihaUtcvnts from Massachusetts. 19 

to the mill with his load upon the horse's back, received 
from him a kind word, a usefid suggestion or a solemn 
appeal. He was a man of decidedly christian character. 
His religious life commenced under the preaching of 
Whitefield and was maintained with unusual integrity to 
the last. 

Joseph Pulsifer from Ipswich, and his wife from New- 
buryport, came here in 1769. She was then eighteen 
years of age, and came on horse-back upon a pillion, rid- 
ing behind another person and never having been upon a 
horse before starting on their journey into the wilderness . 
They settled at first near and a little south of the church 
as it now stands. He afterwards sold his dwelling house 
to the^town for a place of worship, and removed to the 
hill in the south part of the town. There in the midst 
of difficulties, common indeed to new settlers, but of which 
we can at present form no adequate conception, they 
brought up a family of ten children. 

Jonathan Cone was among the early settlers, and was 
an active citizen for some twenty years. He afterwards 
spent his life in Thprnton. 

Nathaniel Tupper from Georgetown and his wife Han- 
nah Choat from Essex, came to town in 1770 and settled 
on the plains where Deacon Clarke now lives. For a long 
time he was called Deacon Tupper, though he never sus- 
tained this office, indicating the public sentiment that he 
might well have sustained it. The preaching of White- 
field was blessed to his conversion in early life and had 
an influence upon the character of many other of the first 
settlers from the region of the scene of his labors near 
the close of his life. 

Joseph Palmer from Rowley, Massachusetts, was in 
town as earl}^ as 1770 or 1771, and took an active part in 
the transactions of the town. He settled on the west 
side of the river and near to it. He had two sons and 



20 Centennial Celebration. 

several daughters who became the heads of large families. 

The first town meeting of which we have the record, 
was held in 1772, and is as follows : 

Moses Little, Esq., Moderator. 

Col. Joseph Spencer, Town Clerk. 

Capt. Gersiiom Burbank, Moses Little, Esq., James 
Harvel, Ebenezer Taylor, Benjamin Hickoox, Select- 
men. 

Jonathan Cone, Constable. 

Samuel Cook, and Samuel Fuller, Tytliingmen. 

Nathaniel Tupper, and Joseph Pulsifer, Fence Vieiv- 
ers. 

David Perkins, and Darius Willey, Sealers of Leather. 

William Hob art, and Asa Spencer, Surveyors of High- 
ways. 

Joseph Palmer, and Joseph Pulsifer, Surveyors of 
Lumber. 

Nathaniel Tupper, Surveyor of Brick. 

Darius Willey, Isaac Fox, Benjamin Rug, Hogreaves. 

Ebenezer Fowler, Sealer of Weights and Measures. 

Voted., That a notice of town meeting hereafter be 
posted in two places. 

notices of the early settlers. 

In the town records of 1773, there appear for the first 
time the names of Israel Brainard, Samuel Holmes, Jonah 
Chapman, Ebenezer Fowler, William Hobart. In 1774, 
John Southmayd, Hobart Spencer, Chiliab Brainard. In 
1775, Thomas Bartlett, John Holmes, Edmond Elliot. 
In 1776, Carr Chase, from Newburyport. In 1777, Elias 
Cheney. In 1779, William Baker, and Moses Baker. 
In 1780, Jabez Church, a successful school teacher for 
many years. 

Col. Joseph Spencer, son of Gen. Jabez Spencer, was 
among the earliest in town, and settled on the farm after- 



Notices of the Early Settlers. 21 

wards occupied by Deacon AYilliam Baker, and now used 
for the poor of the town. 

Samuel Holmes, from Hadlime, Connecticut, was here 
as early as 1771 or 1772. He bought lands of Joseph 
Spencer on Beebe's River, a portion of intervale of great 
productiveness when it was new. Young Holmes came 
up in the spring with his axe upon his back, and went 
into the woods, built him a camp, cut down trees and 
cleared land. His purpose was to return to his distant 
home in the Fall. But before he was ready to leave, the 
weather became cold and he needed additional covering 
for the night and means for cooking. He went to the 
store of Mr. Little to purchase a blanliet and a kettle for 
present use, and asked to be trusted until he should come 
up again in the Spring. This, Mr. Little declined to do, 
an incident to which Holmes, after he became one of the 
wealthiest men in town, was sometimes disposed to call 
the attention of Little. In the following Spring Mr. 
Holmes came up with his wife, she bringing behind her 
on horse-back, her feather-bed and her copper tea-kettle 
rolled up within it. He made a table of a split log and 
she dried her cheese upon the timbers of the new barn 
frame. He soon became a man of consideration among 
the people, and was appointed to the first offices in town. 
He was a colonel in the militia, moderator of town meet- 
ings and was the first Representative of the town in the 
Legislature of the State in 1810 and in 1811. He sought 
the interests of the town, and often gave important aid 
to young men in setting out in life. He sustained with a 
strong hand the religious institutions of the town, and 
was active in building the first meeting house which was 
erected on the east side of the river. He gave land for 
a parsonage, and aided in the erection of the necessary 
buildings. When in closing up the business it was found 
that a debt still remained, he said to his neighbors that it 



22 Centennial Celebration. 

must be paid. " If you will pay one-half you may put 
the rest to my account." Such men are scarce, but of 
great value in any community. He died in 1823, at the 
age of 73. " The memory of the just is blessed, but the 
name of the wicked shall rot." 

John Southmayd, from Hadlime, Connecticut, was in 
town as early as 1773. He is reported to have brought 
to the town S500, which was more money than any one 
had brought who came before him. He settled on the in- 
tervale east of Samuel Holmes. He married for his first 
wife. Prudence, the youngest sister of Abel Willej^, in 
1774. That wedding among the earliest in the place, was 
joyous and memorable. It occurred the day after the set- 
tlement of the first minister. Rev. Mr. Church, and was 
jollowed in less than two years by the death of the young 
wife and mother. His second wife was the daughter of 
Deacon Baker. By his superior education and mechani- 
cal skill. Esquire Southmayd was able to make himself 
useful to his neighbors and townsmen. He was a justice 
of the peace and town clerk for a long time. He was the 
onl}^ surveyor and a good carpenter. He and his neigh- 
bor Holmes were from the same town in Connecticut. On 
one occasion they visited there together and came back 
with different political bearings, the one inclining to the 
Federalist party and the other to the Democratic. When 
the inquiry was made " how this came about?" the answer 
was " they attended different schools." Esquire South- 
mayd was a leading politician. It is said of him that he 
voted the Democratic ticket when no other man in town 
voted with him. 

Samuel Cook, from Newburyport, came to town in 1770. 
He settled on the west side of the river where Mr. Bick- 
ford now lives. He had a large family. His children, 
who became heads of families, were Samuel, Moody, Cut- 
ting, Charles, and Ephraim. One daughter became the 



Notices of the Early Settlers. 23 

wife of Edmond Elliot, afterward of Thornton, and the 
other of Edmond March. Mr. Cook and his wife died so 
near together in 1790 that they were both buried in one 
grave. 

Gershom Burbank, from Newburyport, was one of the 
earliest in town. He settled on the east side of the river 
in the north part of the town. He had previouslj^ been 
in the French war and with the army at the taking of 
Quebec. But not in the battle, for General Wolfe did 
not allow the colonial troops to ascend with him to the 
plains of Abraham. We afterwards find Mr. Burbank 
ready, at the call of his country, at the invasion of Bur- 
goyne in 1777. He was in the regiment of Colonel Chase, 
was 1st Lieutenant in the Company of Captain Willough- 
by of Plymouth. Cutting Favor of New Chester, was 
2d Lieutenant. He afterwards held a captain's commis- 
sion, and was known for a long time as Captain Burbank. 
He was often one of the selectmen of the town, and in 
other important offices. 

William Baker, from Epping, was in town in 1777 and 
probably earlier. He was a man of mature years when 
he came to the place, and was known as a christian man. 
He was a delegate to the first convention for the forma- 
tion of a State Government, held at Concord, 1777. He 
was early appointed Deacon of the Church, and continued 
in this office while he lived. He died November 28, 1814, 
about fifteen minutes before the great earthquake. 

Col. Mo§es Baker, brother of William, came to the 
town in 1778, from Candia, and was originally from Ep- 
ping. He had sustained many important offices, and was 
able to make himself highly useful in this new town. He 
had taken an active part in the interests of the countrj^, 
as the war drew on, and is known to have been in the 
command of a company of six weeks' men, in Candia, in 
1775, called out by the Committee of Safety. He was, as 



24 Centennial Celebration. 

is believed, in the armj^ at the time, if not in the battle at 
Bunker Hill, during the early part of the war. He was 
the Representative of this to\vn in the Convention at 
Concord in 1781. He afterwards represented the three 
towns of Campton, Thornton, and Holderness, in the 
Legislature of the State for several years in succes- 
sion. An incident is related of him, showing the pleasant 
intercourse which he had with the people of the town. He 
became paralytic in his advanced years. One side of 
him being disabled, — but a man of much dignity in his 
personal appearance. With his wife behind him upon a 
horse, as was the custom of riding in those days, he called 
to spend an afternoon at a neighbor's, the late Deacon Da- 
vid Bartlet. The latter was engaged as he often was, in 
making shoes. The Colonel would by no means interrupt 
his work, but sat with him. Dea. Bartlet was anxious to 
make some inquiries of him in regard to his spiritual in- 
terest. But as he was then a young man, he felt a diffi- 
culty in approaching a man of his years and standing in 
the community. At length he frankly told him how he 
felt in reference to speaking to him of his salvation. The 
reply of Colonel Baker was, " It is for this purpose that 
I have called upon you." '' This," said Deacon Bartlett, 
'* was the happiest afternoon I ever spent." Colonel Ba- 
ker united with the christian church in 1802, and became 
an earnest christian man. In reference to this change 
which took place in his advanced years, he was accustom- 
ed to speak with admiring gratitude. " I have had many 
warnings and trials in the loss of friends and of propert}^, 
but nothing has moved me to seek my salvation until God 
appeared in my late trial and cut me in two and paralyzed 
one half of me." 

Benjamin Baker, brother of the above, was a patriot of 
the Revolution. He was in the war at the commencement 
of it, and suffered much. He settled in this town on the 



Centennial Celehration. 25 

west side of the river, but died early from his exposure 
iu the army. 

INCIDENTS OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT. 

The incidents connected with the removal of the early 
inhabitants from their former homes to this remote wilder- 
ness town, are many, and would be of great interest did 
we know them. Had our mothers and grandmothers 
given us in writing the stories which the}^ have so often 
told us, we might have had a rich treat to-day. Some 
general facts we gather from their descendants. The ear- 
ly settlers were almost all young people, — the men from 
eighteen or nineteen, to twenty-one or twenty-two, and 
the women still younger. 

What think 3^ou, young men of the present time, of 
starting off some hundreds of miles into the wilderness, 
with your axe upon your back, to make a home for your- 
selves, — and such a wilderness as was found here ! 
What would the mothers of these times say to sending 
their daughters out as our grandmothers went, taking with 
them nothing but what could be carried on horse-back ! 
But bravely did our ancestors encounter the hardships 
required of them, and we are enjoying the benefits of them. 
For a few years after the first settlers came here, they were 
obliged to go to Concord to mill, a distance of fifty miles 
through the woods. 

An incident is related of one of the Scotch people, who 
were early settled above, upon this river, in the town of 
Thornton. He had been to Concord, with his hand-sled, 
to mill. On his return he spent the niglit in this town, 
and chose to live on his own provisions. He made of his 
corn-meal a thin pudding, and to his gratification, was 
furnished with a little salt, which in those times it was 
difficult to procure, and his remark was that he pitied no 



26 Without a Doctor. 

man -who had Indian meal and salt. There were times 
when crops foiled, and then, as the settlers had no 
other source of suppl}^, the stock of provisions became 
short. Two men were lately living who often related 
that their father, in a time of scarcity, went across these 
east mountains, to Sandwich, for meal, a distance of 
a dozen miles at least, and brought it home upon 
his back, and that their mother quickly made a johnny 
cake and sent it into the field to them where they were 
at work. Their united testimony was that no morsel they 
ever afterwards ate was as good. But except in a few 
such seasons, our fathers and their families had a supply 
of healthful food, and our mothers clean and neat houses, 
and no food was ever as good as that which they prepared 
for their children. The game taken in these woods was 
of great importance to the early settlers. The moose, 
the deer, and the bear, to say nothing of other kinds, 
were common, and our fathers were skilful hunters. Ho- 
bart Spencer, a man of great strength, on one occasion is 
said to have gone up to the foot of Moosehillock, where 
the moose was plentj', and brought home upon his back 
his own weight in moose meat. Colonel Webster of Ply- 
mouth, is said to have had, at one time, fifteen barrels. 
Fish were then abundant in these streams. The salmon 
was frequently taken in the Pemigewasset. 

WITHOUT A DOCTOR. 

You will be disposed to ask, perhaps, how the people 
did, when sick, before any doctor came to town. I can- 
not say, but it is quite certain that they raised up large 
families, enjoyed better health and lived longer than the 
generations in our time. Not in all cases, because they 
had no doctor, but because their habits of life favored 
health and longevity. In the times of their necessities 



Articles of Food and Clothing. 27 

they aided each other, and we fear that the kindnesses and 
hospitalities of those days are but little known among us. 
One of the earliest women on the ground, a widow of 
mature j^ears, though not trained to the medical art, was 
accustomed to go when called, by day or by night, be the 
weather or the traveling what it might, on horse-back or 
on a handsled, over snow-drifts and through woods, and 
by her kind attentions, a large part of the first genera- 
tion in this and neighboring towns, were aided in first 
breathing the vital air and seeing the light of day. 

ARTICLES OF FOOD AND CLOTHING. 

The articles of food, as given in another town, are be- 
lieved to have been common in this. Bread was made of 
rye, or rye and Indian meal. Wheat was raised to a limit- 
ed extent. Boiled pork and beef, broth, bean porridge, 
Indian pudding, boiled potatoes and turnips. Potatoes, 
however, were not largely raised. Three bushels being 
regarded as a great supply. Milk was much used when 
it could be had. For an exchange, sweetened cider with 
toasted bread was taken. Tea and cofiee were very little 
used. 

For clothes, men who had attained their growth, had a 
decent coat, vest, a^d small clothes or breeches, knee- 
buckles, and shoe-buckles. Only old men wore great 
coats and boots, which usually lasted for life They wore 
thick leather shoes, woolen shirts in winter, and linen 
or tow in summer, and a silk handkerchief for the neck, 
which would usually last ten years. Shoes and stockings 
were not usually worn by the 3'oung in summer. As for 
boys, when they left off their petticoats, they put on 
breeches. This was the practice until pantaloons were 
introduced, which v,'ere called tongs. Young men never 
thought of great coats in those days. 



28 Centennial Celehration. 

As for the women, old and young, tlic}^ wore flannel or 
pressed cloth gowns in winter. They were generally con- 
tent with one calico dress. They wore checked aprons 
of linen. The}^ wore high heeled shoes with peaked toes 
turned up at the point. As for bonnets, I can give no 
information. The}' could not have been smaller than 
those now worn. 

CARRIAGES. 

There were no carriages for more than forty years, and 
if there had been there were no roads or bridges for them. 
Colonel Holmes procured the first chaise and drove it into 
town on his return from the General Court in Concord in 
1811. Many of you can speak of the first waggon you 
ever saw. They were not in use when I left town fifty 
years ago. All rode on horse-back, if they rode at all in 
summer. At every church and public place and at almost 
every man's door, was the horse-block. A place prepared 
especially for w^omen from which to mount the horse. As 
for railroad cars, who had ever thought of them? Warm, 
comfortable rooms, carpeted and cushioned, and many 
joined together, filled with jolly folks, moving through 
the countrj^ at the rate of twenty miles to the hour — 
among rocks and stumps and trees, over hills and 
through the valleys and drawn by a boiling teakettle. The 
thought would have been ridiculous 1^ them. But all this 
is now realized, and many of you have taken stock in them. 
As well might our fathers have conceived of a railroad to 
the top of the White Mountains, or to the moon. 

REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 

The period of the revolutionary war was a season of 
trial to the new settlers. They had but recently come and 

Sylvester Marsh, a native of this town, is the originator and agent for 
the construction of a railroad to the top of Mount Washington. One half 
of it is built. Success attend him. 



Revolutionary Soldiers. — Bunker Hill. 29 

gatliered around them a few of the comforts and conven- 
iencies of life. But many of them had not paid for their 
land, and the taxes, incident to the war, fell heavily upon 
them. One man, at least, with a growing family, pro- 
posed to Esquire Little to give up his land and his home. 
But being a cabinet-maker, he was encouraged to work 
the boards which were here, prepared from the birch and 
the maple. In this way he relieved himself and became 
useful to his townsmen. 

REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS. 

This town is said to have furnished ten soldiers for the 
war, besides those called at Burgoyne's invasion. Their 
names so far as we have them were : John Cannon, John 
Majdoy, Jeremiah Archibald, Silas Fox, Uriah Fox, Asa 
Spencer, Edward Taylor, and Oliver Taylor. Of the ten 
soldiers, five are reported to have died in the service. 

BUNKER HILL. 

It is remarkable that, at the battle of Bunker Hill, 
which aroused the whole countrj^ to the great conflict, the 
cannon should have been heard so far as to this town. 
But " it was distinctly heard, by appl3ing the ear to the 
ground," says Dr. Whiton, in his histoiy of the State, 
** at Hanover, at Haverhill, and Plymouth," and I may 
add, in this place. We have had such testimony, from 
those then living here, as cannot be doubted. 

burgoyne's INVASION. 

In the progress of the war, the British commander in 
Canada, General Burgoyne made an advance upon this 
northern region which created great alarm. He came down 
through New York, and was approaching Vermont, when 
Gen. Stark was sent out by the Legislature of New Hamp- 



30 Centennial Celebration. 

shire, to oppose him. General Burgo^me had a powerful 
army made up in part of Hessian soldiers from Germany. 
He was confident of success. He had the tories for scouts 
and for spies, and an arra^^ of savages in his train. Gen- 
eral Stark had collected his troops at Bennington, in Ver- 
mont, on the ninth of August, 1777, and soon ascertained 
that a large detachment of Burgoyne's army was approach- 
ing in command of Colonel Baum. After receiving a 
small reinforcement of Vermont militia, making his whole 
force sixteen hundred, he made an attack upon them, 
and after a short conflict compelled them to retreat. 
Two hundred and thirty Hessians lay dead upon the field ; 
more than seven hundred prisoners were taken and among 
them Colonel Baum, who was mortally wounded. This, 
as Mr. Jefferson said in his letter to General Stark, in af- 
ter years, was the first link in the chain of successes which 
led to the surrender of Burgoyne's army on the seven- 
teenth of October following, and it may be added, was 
the first guarantee of the final attainment of American 
Independence. This event not only gave courage to the 
country, but decided the French Court to acknowledge 
our Independence, and to aid us in the conflict. This con- 
flict brought Lafa3^ette to our shores. The approach of 
Burgoyne's army occasioned a call for men from this 
town. It reached here on Saturday and the men were to 
march on Monday morning. One man, a careful observer 
of the Sabbath, was compelled to spend the da}^ in mak- 
ing himself a pair of shoes. They went to Vermont, and 
hearing of the victory, returned to their homes. 

THE TORIES. 

The tories, you know, were numerous in the earl}^ part 
of the war. They were men who had l)een true to their 
King and to their country, and could not so readily em- 
bark in the interests of this new Republic. They were 



Politics of the Town. 31 

found among all classes of the community, — ministers, 
lawyers and statesmen. They became objects of hatred 
and derision. Governor Wentworth fled from the State 
and country rather than encounter the rising spirit of lib- 
erty. Among the Scotch people in Thornton, there were 
two brothers, at one time, deliberating which side to join. 
They are represented to have been honest and faithful 
men. The one doubting the success of the colonies, went 
to Canada and joined the British army. The other was 
called out to meet Burgo^-ne. They met after his capture, 
the one a prisoner of war, to be sent to England to be 
exchanged ; the other a triumphant American, to return 
to his family. Tories handcuffed, tied together by a rope, 
and that to a horse's tail, and marched off to the tune of 
Yankee doodle. 

POLITICS OF THE TOW^N. 

Among the citizens of this town great harmony of politi- 
cal feeling and action prevailed in their early history. 
Washington was the spontaneous choice of the whole peo- 
ple of the country for their first chief magistrate. But 
no other one was ever elevated to this office without op- 
position. 

Two parties were started in Washington's administra- 
tion, known afterwards by the names of Federalist and 
Republican. The one advocating a strong general gov- 
ernment, and the other a larger measure of li])erty. The 
one made up of the men of wealth, character and influence ; 
the other of 3'oung men, mechanics and the poorer class, 
and also of the planters of the South. Under different 
names two parties have ever since continued. The vote 
of this town was given for the Federal candidate, without 
dissent, up to 1801. 

About this time two of the leading men of the town 
made a visit together to their native State, Connecticut, 



32 Centennial Celebration. 

and came back advocates for different political systems. 
The inquiry was made, Avh}^ it was so ? The answer was 
*' that they attended different political schools. Then the 
minister of the town took an open stand in favor of the 
Kepublican, or as it is now known, the Democratic party. 
From this time a small but increasing portion of the votes 
were cast for that ticket. 

In 1802, the vote of the town stood 83 to 4. In 1803, 
115 to 17. In 1812, 107 to 20. In 1818, 132 to 23. 

In 1829, Jacob Giddings was Moderator ; Ebenezer Lit- 
tle, Representative. The vote for Governor stood 124 for 
Bell, and 62 for Pierce. 

In 1830, Ebenezer Little was Eepresentative. Vote for 
Governor stood 114 for Upham, and 77 for Harvey. 

In 1831, John Keniston, Representative. Vote for 
Governor stood 100 for Dinsmore, and 1C6 for Bartlett. 

INTEREST IN EDUCATION. 

The education of the young has ever been an impor- 
tant object with the citizens of this town, as their appro- 
priations for this object from year to j^ear will show. As 
has been seen, the charter of the town secured lands for 
the support of schools. 

The first school taught by a man, was kept in the house 
of Col. Baker, by Mr. Rawson, a young man from Con- 
necticut, not far from 1780. This was the only school 
which many of the first generation of the town ever at- 
tended. Some short schools were afterwards attended in 
other places. This deficiency in the means of education 
was made up to the young by the fidelity of their parents, 
particularly by the mothers. The mothers may be said to 
have been the educators of the first generation in this 
town. They required the word of God to be read to them, 
chapter after chapter, daily, and when it was read through 
it was begun again. A book better adapted to the pur- 



School Teachers. 33 

poses of education never has been prepared. They were 
taught also to spell their mother tongue, as the records of 
the town and other public documents will show. In after 
time there were two school districts in town, one on each 
side of the river. They have since been increased from 
time to time, until we fear they have become injuriously 
small. 

SCHOOL TEACHERS. 

Many excellent teachers are remembered, and many 
there were, doubtless, who are not remembered, whose 
services have been worth more to the youth of this place 
than the compensation which they have received. 

Among the early female teachers was Miss Sally Chapin, 
the daughter of Rev. Mr. Chapin. With her kind and 
gentle spirit and her skill in teaching, she did much in 
the formation of the intellectual and religious character 
of her pupils. The speaker is indebted to her in this re- 
spect. She lived to advanced years, and left some three 
or four thousand dollars for the benefit of the Freewill 
Baptist denomination. 

Among the men who early taught here was Master 
Church, as everj^body called him ; for a long time a useful 
citizen of this town, and afterwards of Thornton. Mas- 
ter Norris was a long time a teacher in this place. He 
was a good reader, good in arithmetic and an unusually 
good penman. He did much towards the education of the 
young of his day, and left an impression, if not on their 
minds, yet on their hands quite skin deep. The late 
Deacon Allen, of Lebanon, taught in the village with 
good success, — more than fifty j^ears ago. 

Col. Enoch Colby, when he gave himself to the work, 
was a good teacher. Mr. Davis Baker did good service 
in this respect. Peabody Rogers, Esq., a young man of 
precocious intellect, taught in this town to great advan- 



34 Centennial Celebration. 

tage. A former citizen of this town, Jacob Giddings, 
Esq., now of Portland, Maine, was for many years a suc- 
cessful teacher in this town. Many young men from 
Dartmouth College, have taught here at different times 
and given elevation to the schools. Among them was the 
Rev. Isaac Rogers, for forty years the pastor of the church 
in Farmington, Maine. Rev. J. B. Richardson, D.D., a dis- 
tinguished minister and agent of the American Bible So- 
ciety in Central New York, taught the district school in the 
centre of the town, and music at the same time. Many 
other valuable men and many excellent females, who have 
at different times benefitted this town by their labors as 
teachers, it would be pleasant to call up before us, if we 
had the needful information. 



DARTMOUTH COLLEGE. 

It is a fact of some interest that an effort was made by 
the proprietors to secure the establishment of Dartmouth 
College in this town. A committee was chosen in 1769 
to visit Dr. Wheelock, and invite him to visit the place 
which it is said he did, for the purpose of examining its 
advantages for the College. 

holmes' PLYMOUTH ACADEMY. 

It is well known that Colonel Holmes more than fifty 
years ago gave $500 as the beginning of a fund for an 
Academy in Plymouth. Such an institution, bearing his 
name, had been established and was highly beneficial to 
all this part of the country. But we are not informed 
that any addition to this was ever made, and we ask to- 
day, where is Holmes' Plymouth Academy ? and where are 
its funds ? 



Social Library. — Prospects of Young Men. 35 

THE SOCIAL LIBRARY. 

A social library was early established in this town. It 
is well known that Dr. Belknap, the early historian of 
our State, urged this object upon the attention of all the 
new towns and that Dr. Emmons, who first preached the 
gospel in this town, set forth its importance in a dis- 
course of great ability. 

Rev. Mr. Church had an important agency in establish- 
ing the library in this town about the time of the close of 
his ministry here. It was increased from time to time by 
a tax on its members, and contained at times three hun- 
dred volumes. It embraced few, beside substantial works. 
It contained valuable histories, travels and biographies. A 
large portion of the 5^oung people made themselves famil- 
iar with Rollin's Ancient History. It was well supplied 
with the theology of New England, and with some of the 
best foreign works. The young people of the town read 
these books. It was common for them to have some one 
volume on hand, which in due time was returned for another. 
Not a few prided themselves in having read through the 
library. Their leisure hours and their evenings were 
given to such employments. It was a matter of deep 
regret to the sons and daughters of this town abroad, 
that this library should have been divided among 
the proprietors. We venture to suggest the inquiry 
whether many of these books cannot be called in again, 
others added to them, and the library re-established. 

PROSPECTS OF YOUNG MEN. 

Fifty years ago and previously the young men of the 
town, as they looked forward to a settlement in life, had 
their eye upon some piece of new and uncultivated land 
for a farm and a home. To secure this, after they were 
of age, /ree, as they called it at twenty-one, they would 



36 Centennial Celebration. 

work for some man who wished to hire, for $100 a year to 
secure the means of bujdng their land and of starting in 
the world. Colonel Holmes and other leading men took 
pleasure in aiding such enterprises. This continued the 
order of things until the land was so far taken up as to 
afford no encouragement of this kind. Other young men 
sought employment in the lower towns and in our cities, 
from whence they did not always return. The West has 
opened to us a vast field of emigration and many have 
left this town for those prairies. The name of your town 
has been transferred to one of the towns in Illinois. 

YOUNG WOMEN. 

The factories have given at different times employment 
to a large number of young women of the town. It is 
believed that there were at one time forty young women 
from this town in Lowell. 

INDUSTRY AND TEMPERANCE. 

The people of the town, it hardly need be said, have 
been an industrious people. They must have been, to 
have lived, yet they have secured a large share of the 
comforts of life for themselves and families. Many have 
obtained independence and wealth. Poverty has hardly 
been known here. The people of the town have generally 
been temperate. This was eminently true of the early 
settlers, and continued so long as the penalty for getting 
drunk was to dig up a pine stump. But when taverns 
were licensed to sell intoxicating drinks, one on each side 
of the river, and when the stores kept them for the free 
use of the people, their habits suffered, valuable citizens 
were in danger and were saved only by the temperance 
reform. In this place, this work has been thorough and 
of incalculable benefit. 



Doctors of the Town. " 37 



DOCTORS OF THE TOWN. 

We would not forget on this occasion to notice the 
men of skill in medical science, who have attended to the 
wants of the sick and the dying. Doctors Rogers and 
Robins of Plymouth, and Nichols of Thornton, practised 
in this place before any ph^^sician was established here. 
Jeduthan Clough from Canterbury, was the first doctor 
in the place. He settled here in 1802, and lived in the 
village. Doctor Angler was the next, and he lived also 
in the village. The third was Robert Morrison. He 
came here in 1814, and died in 1819. He was a young 
man of a genial spirit, of attractive manners and well 
skilled in his profession. He secured in an unusual de- 
gree, the esteem and confidence of the people. He was 
skilled in music and gathered the young people around 
him in the cultivation of it. In the revival of 181.5, he 
was among the number who took a stand for Christ and 
was instrumental in leading others to the same decision. 
His sudden death was the occasion of general mourning. 

Succeeding him was Dr. John Kimball. He had prac- 
tised in the north part of the State, had returned to 
Hanover his native town in feeble health. Application 
was made by a young man in college from this place to 
Dr. Mussey, a leading professor in the Medical School, 
for a man suited to take the place of Dr. Morrison. Him- 
self a decidedly religious man and having sympathy with 
the people here, he at once recommended Dr. Kimball, 
saying that he was one of the best read men who ever 
went forth from that institution. Dr. Kimball had a long 
and successful practice here, and will be remembered as 
a good physician and a remarkably conscientious and 
truly christian man. He removed to Beaver Dam, Wis- 
consin. 



38 Centennial Celebration, 



RELIGIOUS HISTORY. 

The first settlers of the town were generally yonng peo- 
ple, who had been religiously educated. The stern reali- 
ties of life were before them and an opportunity was to 
be afforded for the development of their characters. They 
were not generally professedly religious. But the wor- 
ship of God has been maintained in this town from the 
beginning. The first preacher of the gospel here was 
Rev. Nathaniel Emmons, afterwards Dr. Emmons of 
Franklin, Massachusetts. In 1771, he received a unan- 
imous request from the inhabitants and from the proprie- 
tors of the town to become the settled pastor. That Mr. 
Emmons should have sought another field of labor is not a 
matter of surprise. The time of his being here was not 
more than four years after there were but five families 
in town, and there w^ere not probably more than twenty 
at this time. But in each succeeding j^ear renew^ed efforts 
were made to secure the preaching of the gospel, but with 
little success until the spring of 1774. 

FORMATION OF THE CHURCH AND SETTLEMENT OF A MINISTER. 

At that time Rev. Selden Church, a graduate of Yale 
College in 1765, came to the place and was settled as pas- 
tor, June 2d, 1774. A Congregational church was organ- 
ized the day previous at the house of Nathaniel Tupper. 
The early records of the church having been lost, we 
know little of these important events. The persons who 
constituted the church we have not the means of know ine:. 
But we know that Nathaniel Tupper, David Perkins and 
Daniel Wyatt were religious men, and we may presume 
that they were among the earliest members. How many 
christian women of those days were united with them it 
would be pleasant to know. 



Ordination. 39 



ORDINATION. 



Some particulars in regard to the ordination are of in- 
terest to us as matters of history. At 10 o'clock on Mon- 
du}^, the tenth of October, there was a town meeting to 
make the needful arrangements. Chiliab Brainard was 
moderator. It was voted that the town make a general 
entertainment on the occasion, and that the rum and 
sweetening be at the " town's cost" ; that Darius Willey, 
David Perkins, Ebenezer Taylor, be a committee to take 
the oversight and see that all things were made ready at 
the time and place. Such an entertainment was deemed 
proper in those times. 

Rum, the only intoxicating drink then used at all by 
the people, was an expensive article. It was used spar- 
ingl}^, and only on important occasions. The provision 
for it on this occasion, shows the importance of the occa- 
sion in their estimation. Could we know who were on 
this counsel, who preached the sermon and who perform- 
ed the other parts of the services it would be a matter of 
interest to us. 

The salary offered Mr. Church was fifty pounds lawful 
monej" per year for six j^ears, then to be advanced five 
pounds per year until it should reach to seventy pounds. 
His settlement was one hundred and five pounds in labor 
and provisions. He was to have drawn thirty cords of 
wood, eight feet in length, each year. 

Mr. Church commenced his ministry when there were 
not probably much beyond thirty families in town. But 
they were united and all attended meeting, notwithstand- 
ing the bad roads, and want of carriages. Their worship 
was held in a private house ; first in that of Col. Joseph 
Spencer, and afterwards in that of Isaac Fox. 



40 Centennial Celebration. 

A HOUSE OF WORSHIP. 

In 1779, the town chose Moses Baker, John Holmes, 
and Daniel Wyatt a committee to agree with Joseph 
Pulsifer for his dwelling house for a house of worship. 
The purchase was made, and Samuel Holmes, and Wil- 
liam Baker were appointed a committee " to plan the 
pew ground " and sell the same. The money raised in 
this way was to be laid out in the repairs of the house. 
This arrangement, it will be borne in mind, was made at 
the time when the expenses of the revolutionary war 
bore heavily uj^on the people. This house of worship 
was used also for a town house. Here Rev. Mr. Church 
preached some twelve or more years. In 1791, the town 
voted that the meeting house be removed to the broAV of 
the hill near, and a little south of the place, where the 
road descends to cross the river. A boat was also pre- 
pared to accommodate the people on the west side of the 
river in attending meeting. In 1796 the town voted to 
build two meeting houses, one on each side of the River, 
at such place as shall be most convenient — board and 
shingle the same and allow the remainder to be done by 
the pew holders. This vote was reconsidered and made 
void in a following meeting. For many years meetings 
were' held on both sides of the river. Every third Sab- 
bath on the west side, for a time at least, at the house of 
Mr. Samuel Cook. It was under these circumstances that 
a portion of the people in the west part of the town be- 
gan to attend worship at Plymouth, where some of our 
most valuable citizens have ever since attended. 

The dwelling house of Rev. Mr. Church was a large 
gambrel roofed house where Dea. Brown's house now 
stands. 



The 3finistnj of Rev. Mr. Church. 41 

THE MINISTRY OF REV. MR. CHURCH. 

From any view which we can take of his ministrj^ it 
will appear to have been arduous and difficult. lie came 
here when the town was new and the people poor. They 
lived remote from each other and the roads were bad and 
the stream often difficult to cross. The people of the 
town coming from ditterent regions of the country did 
not at once harmonize. Those from Connecticut were 
generally a discreet, industrious and reliable people, and 
strongly attached to religious institutions, but few of 
them were professedly pious. They had been accustomed 
to the half way covenant and partook to some extent of 
the characteristics of the churches in their native State 
at that period, as we learn from the complaints made in 
regard to them, viz : "'a want of a pungent application 
of the truth in preaching, a neglect of the proper qualifi- 
cations in persons received into the church, and a want 
of proper church discipline." They had heard of the 
extravagances of Davenport and others and had little 
sympathy with the "new lights." But the people from 
Massachusetts came from under the preaching of White- 
field, of Parsons and Spring of Newbur3^port, and of 
Cleaveland of Ipswich. But under the discreet ministry 
of Mr. Church, a good degree of harmony prevailed among 
his people for sixteen or seventeen years. During the 
latter part of his ministry there was an awakened relig- 
ious interest and a goodly number gathered into the 
church. But having been aware of a groAving disaffection 
for some years, Mr. Church requested a dissolution of his 
pastoral relation in 1792. He remained in town and con- 
tinued to preach and his salary was paid for a con- 
siderable time, and an effort was made for his resettle- 
ment, and it was thought at one time that it would be 
successful. But it was judged in the end to be inexpe- 
dient. The complaints of cavilers were that he was slow 



42 Centennial Celebration. 

in his delivery, — long in his sermons and that when the 
people with their families went to meeting upon an ox- 
sled they would not get home until after sunset. But 
that ministry must have been uncommonly pure, of which 
we haA e heard in after years so little that was derogatory. 
Those of us who came forward in the following genera- 
tion have been in the habit of hearing no man spoken of 
with more respect than the Rev. Mr. Church. Whatever 
might have been said of other ministers, we have heard 
nothing evil of him. After a time he removed from the 
town and was settled in Northumberland, in Coos county. 
Here he spent the remainder of his life, both as a preacher 
and a teacher. Men are found in the higher walks of life 
who came forward under his instruction. It was a loss 
to lose from the town such a man at such a time. 

THE FOLLOWING PERIOD. 

There followed a dark period in the religious history of 
the iown. Without any one to call off the attention of the 
people from their worldly interests, every one sought his 
own, and the interests of the Saviour's kingdom, and the 
welfare of the souls of men w^ere neglected. It was at this 
time that Dea. Evans of Hebron, an earnest christian 
man of humble pretensions felt himself moved to come 
and warn the people of their danger, and invite them to 
Christ. His labors were blessed in arousing .some of the 
people to a conviction of their sins and a sense of their 
danger, and a number of persons were hopefulty led to 
the Saviour. Among them was Dea. John Wooster, 
Dea. Jonathan Burbank, Mr. Josiah Blaisdell and a num- 
ber of valuable women. 

NEW HOUSE OF WORSHIP. 

In 1799 preparations were made for erecting a house 
of worship. It was to be done by the people on the east 



Rev. Mr. Chapin. — Beneival of Covenant. 43 

side of the river, for their own and the use of their fami- 
lies. It required a great effort on the part of individuals. 
The people in the west part of the town generally at this 
time found their home in the church at Pl3nnouth, where 
their aid was much needed in sustaining the institutions 
of religion. The new house of worship was finished in 
1802. It stood south of Mr. David Bartlett's and in 
front of the old burying ground. It is remembered 
by multitudes as the gate of heaven. No other place 
on earth has the same interest to them. Some of 
us now living, after forty years, can recall the occupant 
of every pew in that house. It had high galleries, a high 
pulpit, the sounding board above it, and the deacons sat 
below it. There we heard and praised and prayed. 

REV. MR. CHAPIN. 

The first preacher in the new house was Kev. Peletiah 
Chapin. He had labored occasionally in the place. In 
1800 he proposed to the people that he would preach to 
them for a time on condition that they would furnish 
board for himself, wife and daughter. He was invited to 
settle with them, but he declined, saying that he was like 
his horse, sure to break away if tied. With some abate- 
ment on the score of eccentricity, Mr. Chapin labored 
here successfully for about five years. 

RENEWAL OF COVENANT. 

The third of April, 1800, the church renewed their 
covenant, Rev. Noah Worcester being present and aiding 
in the services. The names of those who signed it were 
as follows : Nathaniel Tapper and wife ; Dea. Daniel 
Wyatt ; Jonathan Burbank and wife ; David Bartlett ; 
Josiah Blaisdell; Deborah Willey, the wife of Jesse 
Willey ; Dea. Baker and wife. Afterwards, Rev. Reletiah 
Chapin and Joshua Rogers. Twelve in all. 



44 Centennial Celebration. 

In 1802, the following persons became conneeted with 
the church : viz., Tristram Bartlett, Mary Wille}^ Moses 
Baker and wife, Sarah Rogers, David Wooster, Ruth 
Southmayd and Olive Durgin, making twenty members. 
About three years after, in 1805, Rev. Mr. Cliapin avowed 
his dissent from the Congregational churcli, and united 
with a Baptist churcli in a neighboring town. About one 
third of the church gradually came into sympathy with 
him. 

Rev. Mr. Chapin w^as invited still to continue his minis- 
try in the parish. But he replied that a man would be a 
fool to attempt to lead others right while he did not do 
right himself. He sat up a separate meeting in town 
which was attended by those in sympathy with him. 
Many of these persons were owners in the new meeting 
house, and claimed their share of it. A certain portion 
of the time was assigned to them and the house was oc- 
cupied by them, while the Congregational church and 
society worshipped in a school house. At length the 
portion of the house owned by the Baptist people was 
purchased by the Congregational society. 

Mr. Chapin preached frequently in different parts of 
this town and in other towns, but as we are informed by 
the Baptist people, was not active in the formation of the 
Baptist church in the north part of the town, in 1811, and 
was never its pastor. At one time he was called upon 
for a tax of fifty cents, and he said it was more money 
than he had received for preaching for ten years. 

At the election of Mr. Jefferson as President of the 
United States in 1801, Mr. Chapin took strong ground 
in his favor. At one time while he acted as pastor, Dr. 
John Rogers of Pl3^mouth delivered a political address 
in the meeting house on the fourth of July. Mr. Chapin 
was invited to be present but refused. On the following 
Sabbath he commenced his services by reading the hymn 



Rev. Daniel Stanford. — John Webber. 45 

commencing with the following lines, " I lift my banner 
saith the Lord, where anti-Christ hath stood." He after- 
wards had a controversy with Dr. Rogers, which was car- 
ried on in poetry. He was a man of kind and generous 
feelings. He once met a bo}^ near his own home in a 
cold day without a coat. He took off his own and placed 
it upon him. Mr. Chapin often preached impressively. 
He lived to an advanced age, and expressed his thank- 
fulness that his different faculties faile(^ alike, that he was 
not wholly deprived of any one of them. 

REV. DANIEL STANIFORD. 

Rev. Daniel Stamford was employed to preach for 
one year in 1806. He was a man of feeble health ; of a 
clear and cultivated mind, and earnest in his work. He 
did much to establish the minds of the people in the doc- 
trines of the gospel and in giving stability to the church. 

JOHN WEBBER. 

John Webber, a graduate of Dartmouth College and 
brother of President Webber of Harvard College, was 
settled here in the ministry in 1812. He was a man of 
much information and would have done more for the peo- 
ple if his salar}^ had met the wants of his family. For 
their support he was obliged to labor upon the land. His 
ministry was of only three or four years continuance and 
was useful in enlarging the views of the people on many 
of the principles of theologj^ He was of an active mind 
and loved a joke. Riding with a young man of easy 
morals, he remarked to him that he did not always see 
him at church. The young man replied that there were 
other places of worship of different denominations in the 
vicinity and that he usually attended somewhere, and 
added, " You know a change of pasture makes fat calves." 
Said Mr. Webber, " I knew an instance where a calf was 



46 Centennial Celebration. 

permitted to suck two cows through the season." And 
" what was the result," said the young man? The an- 
swer was, " A great calf." Mr. Webber was dismissed 
in the early part of 1815, and removed to Ohio. 

SPIRITUAL PROSPECTS. 

To human view the prospect for the spiritual interests 
of the place was never more unpromising than at this 
time. The active members of the church were reduced 
to a handful, not more than six in number. They were 
persons advanced in years. The parish was unable to 
support a minister, worldliness prevailed and the young, 
a large number of whom were in town at this time, weie 
given to their pleasures. The faith of the people of God 
had no earthly supports, but rested upon the grace of 
God and the promises of his word. Such was the time 
which a merciful God chose to work like himself. It was 
afterwards remarked that the darkest time was just before 
day. 

GREAT REVIVAL. 

He first visited His people with judgments, one of which 
w^as as follows : At the raising of a house near the pres- 
ent church and town house, after the broad side was 
thrown up, the poles were unfastened and thrown down. 
One of them struck upon the head of a young man and 
caused his death. It was a terrible event and shocked the 
whole connnunity. The young man was one of the 
sprightliest and most attractive in the town. They car- 
ried him to his grave. But' the event was not forgotten. 
The building remained unfinished for some years, a re- 
membrancer to all passers by. At length an attempt was 
made to gather the materials for finishing it. The father 
of the 3^oung man being skilled in the business, went into 



Great Revival. 47 

the woods with others to prepare the shingles. After 
felling a suitable tree, while setting npon it between two 
other men, a limb which had been broken, and was held 
in the top of other trees, fell and instantly killed this 
man while the other men remained uninjured. The 
death of this 3^oung man, as it afterwards ap- 
peared, was the means of the awakening of many of the 
young people to their immortal interests ; and the afflict- 
ed mother, a lovely member of the Baptist church, re- 
marked that this circumstance aided greatly in reconciling 
her to the loss of her sou. 

Rev. Mr. Hardy preached to the people for a time in 
the early part of this season, — a man wanting in elo- 
quence, but an able and godly man. The providence of 
God also preached, — the Spirit of God was present in 
an unusual degree to convince us of sin. The people 
generally were aroused from their stupidity and many 
made the inquiry what they should do to be saved. A 
young man who had been attending school at Haverhill, 
where there had been an extensive revival, returned and 
commenced holding meetings for the j^oung in the school 
house, in the intermission of public worship. These 
meetings were soon largely attended. The aged and ex- 
perienced members of the church were now in requisition 
to guide the young to the Saviour. In the fall of this 
year. Rev. Mr. McKeeu preached for a time. Not a few 
owe the life of their souls to his faithfulness. About the 
beginning of the following year, Mr. AYarren Day came 
to the place. He had studied theology with Rev. Dr. 
Shurtlief, was a young man of humble pretensions, not 
distinguished for eloquence, but was evidently one whom 
God had raised up in his Providence to labor in his vine- 
yard. He preached the truth of God from his heart and 
God spoke through him to the people. They had also a 
hearing ear and an understanding heart given to them 



48 Centennial Celebration. 

and received the truth in the love of it. Some of the 
texts from which he preached that winter will be remem- 
bered by many while they live. One young man in after 
years was able to recall every text which was preached 
upon that winter and in the order in which they were 
brought forward. Many families were largely blessed. 
Parents and children were made the subjects of renewing 
grace. There were a number wdio united with the church 
on the first Sabbath in January, 1816. A larger number 
on the first Sabbath in March. The whole number added 
in the course of the year, as fruits of that revival, was 
about seventy ; and others were added afterwards to the 
number, in the whole of about one hundred. 

REMARKS OF MR. MARSH. 

The following are the remarks of Rev. Christopher 
Marsh, at the ordination of Rev. Worcester Willey, a 
missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for 
Foreign Missions, in 1844 : 

" Twenty-nine years ago at this time, I was inquiring 
what I must do to be saved. The second Sabbath in Jan- 
uar}^, following, I was one of thirteen, wdio in this house 
publicly professed Christ before the world. An interest- 
ing revival of religion was then in progress, which 
brought a large number into the church. From all my 
knowledge of that revival, its origin, its progress and re- 
sults, and from all the experience I have had in revivals 
in other places from that time to this, I am in the habit 
of thinking of the revival in this town in 1815-16, as 
the most precious and the freest from anything spurious 
or exceptionable, of any revival whic^h has fallen under 
my observation. I ascribe this to the ever to be remem- 
bered fact, that the families connected with this church 
and congregation so habitually observed the Sabbath and 
attended public w^orship, and so generally read Baxter's, 



Kev. Mr. Brown. — Parsonage. 49 

Davics, and Emmons' sermons, Edwards' works and other 
kindred books from the library of the town. 

From this revival, six young men entered the ministry, 
and another with the ministry in view, died while a mem- 
ber of College. Since that revival this church has ex- 
perienced other seasons of refreshing, and converts have 
been multiplied. We can now say that not less than 
eight, among the rocks and hills and everlasting moun- 
tains of this obscure town, have been counted worthy to 
be put into the ministry. Other towns may be more beau- 
tifid for situation, may have more sons at the bar, on the 
bench and in the councils of the nation. But this town 
wall not be wanting in beauty so long as she raises up 
from her sons, pastors and churches and missionaries to 
the heathen. This town will not be wanting in fame so 
long as she sends forth heralds to proclaim liberty to 
the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that 
are bound, and furnished men to lead onward and upward 
the sacramental host of God's elect." 

Rev. Mr. Hovey, a man advanced in life, preached for 
a time after Rev. Mr. Day left, and faithfully instructed 
those who had entered upon the christian's life. Rev. Mr. 
Fairbank of Plymouth, aided much in this work. 

REV. MR. BROWN. 

In the fall of the year, Mr. Amos P. Brown, who had 
studied Theology with Rev. Dr. Wood of Boscawen, was 
invited to labor here, and in January 1, 1817, was settled 
as pastor of the church. A general prosperity attended 
his ministry of five years. 

PARSONAGE. 

During this time the land for the present parsonage 
was given to the societ}^ by Col. Samuel Holmes. It con- 



50 Centennial Celebration. 

sisted of twelve or sixteen acres in an uncultivated state. 
He gave also fifteen dollars towards the erection of a 
dwelling house and also boarded the workmen while at 
work upon it. The old men of the parish undertook to 
build the house and the young men the barn. When the 
whole was completed, it was found that there was a debt 
of one hundred and fifty dollars. Colonel Holmes said 
to the leading men of the parish, " You become obligated 
for one-half of it, and you may put the other half to my 
account." It was done in a few minutes. Rev. Mr. 
Brown was dismissed at his own request in June, 1822. 
He removed into the western country and there spent a 
useful ministry, mainly in the State of Illinois. There 
succeeded a period of two years in which the church had 
no fettled pastor. But there was such ability in the 
church, that when they had no preaching upon the Sab- 
bath, the worship of God was sustained with interest, and 
also the meetings of the week. 

REV. MR. RANKIN. 

During this time, Eev. Mr. Rankin for a season, preach- 
ed on alternate Sabbaths in this town and in Thornton. 
Both parishes made advances towards securing him as 
their minister. But the people of Thornton moved first, 
and he became a useful minister there for a time. 

NEW CHURCH ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE RIVER. 

In 1824, the people on the west side of the river, who 
had been accustomed to attend worship at Plymouth, 
united in forming a second Congregational Society in this 
town. They built a house of worship not far from where 
the road now crossing the river meets the road upon the 
west side. Christian people there united with the church 
on the east side and worship was maintained on both sides 
of the river on alternate Sabbaths. 



Rev, Mr. Hale. — A Neio Bridge. 51 

REV. MR. HALE. 

In the Spring of 1824, Eev. Jonathan L. Hale from 
Connecticut, who had been Laboring with much success in 
Colebrook in Coos county, was iuAited to this place. His 
services were highly acceptable to the people and he was 
installed here June 23, 1824. The presence of God was 
specially present with his people as they entered the new 
house of worship. The men who had built it, the larger 
portion of whom were j^oung, had made great efforts for 
the purpose, and a large number of them and their fami- 
lies embraced the offers of the gospel and jdelded them- 
selves to the services of their Lord. Others on the east 
side of the river were interested, and some thirty were 
added to the church. There were still, as there alwa3's 
had been, many difficulties experienced in crossing the 
river to attend meeting. They could ford the river in 
Summer, and pass over it in Winter upon the ice. But 
there were seasons when to do this was dangerous. 

A MAN IN THE RIVER. 

On one occasion, as the people had begun their worship 
in the new house, a man who was a little late, saw a man 
break through the ice and sink in the water. He rushed 
into the church and excliiimed that a man was drowning 
n the river ! The house was soon emptied and the man 
was found clinging to the breaking ice, as one piece after 
another gave away. He was at length rescued in an ex- 
hausted state. He proved to be the beloved physician, 
Dr. Kimball. He had attended meeting in the forenoon, 
and was called away in the afternoon. 

A NEW BRIDGE. 

This and other like perils, led the people to feel the 
importance of a bridge across the river. A subscription 



52 Centennial Celebration. 

of one thousand dollars was raised for this purpose, of 
which Rev. Mr. Hale gave oife hundred dollars. The 
bridge was built in 1829. Now the people wonder how 
their fathers could ever have done without a bridge in 
that place. 

PROSPERITY OF THE SOCIETY. 

The Church and Societj^ were now able to sustain their 
own institutions and to aid the benevolent enterprises 
abroad. Rev. Mr. Hale stated that his parish made up 
of about forty families, promptly furnished him his salary 
and contributed annually about four hundred dollars for 
the various benevolent objects of the day. 

CHURCH DIFFICULTIES. 

After some six or seven years, from the settlement of 
Rev. Mr. Hale, difficulties grew up in the church. Breth- 
ren became alienated from each other, and we fear were 
not in a condition to receive a blessing ; and that in con- 
sequence that favored year of 1831, which brought such 
large blessings to the churches of our land, failed to se- 
cure to this church the good which it might otherwise 
have received. A protracted meeting of three daj^s was 
blessed to the awakening of the people, and twelve be- 
came hopefully christians and united with the church. 

MR. HALE's removal. 

In 1832 Rev. Mr. Hale buried his wife, and afterwards 
sought a release from his pastoral charge. He had three 
children who lived to years of maturity, two sons and 
one daughter. The two sons went down to the grave 
in early manhood, leaving cheering evidence of their pre- 
paredness for the kingdom of God above. The daughter 
survives, — the wife of Rev. Lauren Armsby of Can- 
dia, — from whom we have the following facts : 



Dr. Stone^s Ministry. — Deacons' Meetings. 53 



MRS. ARMSBY S LETTER. 

" My father, Rev. Jonathan Lee Hale, was the son of 
Judge Nathan Hale of Goshen, Connecticut, and was 
born May 31, 1790. He graduated at Middlebury Col- 
lege, in the year 1819. After completing the theological 
course at Andover Seminary in 1822, he labored one 
year in Colebrook, New Hampshire, under the auspices 
of the Home Missionar}^ Society. He was ordained in 
Campton, June 23d, 1824; dismissed April 18th, 1832. 
His second settlement was in Windham, Maine, in 1832. 

In the summer of 1834 he took a violent cold, while 
returnino; from an exchange with a brother minister. His 
lungs became seriously aftected and he was advised by 
physicians to spend the ensuing winter at the South. In 
October, 1834, he sailed for Savannah, Georgia, in com- 
pany with Rev. Mr. Pomeroy of Gorham, Maine. 

The following notice of his death, I copy from a paper 
published in Savannah, Georgia : 

DEATH OF REV. MR. HALE. 

" Died January 15th, 1835, on the Island of Skidaway, 
near Savannah, at the house of David E. Adams, Esq., 
Rev. Jonathan Lee Hale, aged 44. He had repaired, at too 
late a period of a pulmonary complaint, to this salutary 
climate for the benefit of his health, and died in the bosom 
of christian sjmipathy and kindness. His body was 
brought to the church at White Bluff, and after an appro- 
priate sermon by the Rev. Willierd Preston of Savannah, 
and fervent prayers for the far distant widow and three 
orphan children, it was committed to the grave in the 
church burial ground of White Bluff, seven miles south 
of the cit}'- of Savannah." 

Thus passed away from earth this beloved father 



54 Centennial Celebration. 

whose mcmoiy is still fresh, though I was but a child of 

eight years at his death. 

Eliza Lee Armsby." 

DK. stone's ministry. 

The following 3'ear Rev. Benjamin P. Stone, D. D., 
was installed pastor of this church. He was settled for 
the limited time of five 3^ears. During this time the diffi- 
culties were removed, and the church enjoyed again har- 
mony and spiritual prosperity. About thirty were added 
to the church. Had it not been for this unfortunate limi- 
tation, this order of things, go far as we can see, might 
have continued, and a long pastorate been enjo3^ed ; — a 
blessing of which this chiu'ch has never known, the long- 
est being that of Rev. Mr. Church, the first minister. 

OTHER MINISTERS. 

The other ministers of this church who have served 
them for a time, have been Rev. Thomas P. Beach, who 
removed to Ohio and died there ; Rev. Charles Shedd, 
now in active service in Minnesota. 

deacons' MEETINGS. ' 

There have been times when this church has been with- 
out a minister for months, and for j^ears together. Re- 
ligious services were conducted by the Deacons and other 
leading members of the church. Deacons Baker, Wyatt, 
Bartlctt and Bmbank have been long held in esteem for 
the part they took in these services. It required much 
care and labor to procure and select suitable discourses, 
to read them and to perform the other services in the ap- 
propriate manner in which they were performed. This, 
from his situation in the parish, and from his qualifica- 
tions, devolved much upon Dea. David Bartlett. To no 



Without a Church. 55 

other man lias this church been so much indebted in all 
its interests as to him, for more than forty years. Anoth- 
er fact of interest is that these services, upon the Sab- 
bath, were encouraged and attended habitually by the 
principal families of the town, and their importance in its 
past history can hardly be over-estimated. 

THE PRIVILEGE OF CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. 

At the altar of this church have been made vows which 
have been recorded in heaven, covenant engagements 
which have not been violated, and by its mutual aids and 
sympathies a goodly number in their pilgrimage of trials, 
have been comforted, supported and nourished up to eter- 
nal life, and 

When God makes up his last account 
Of natives in his holy mount, 
'Twill be an honor to appear 
As one new born and nourished there. 

THE CHURCH A BLESSING. 

The history of this church for a period of a little more 
than sixty years, which has now been under review, shows 
abundantly its earthly connections, its human infirmities 
and also its heavenly origin and its spiritual life. No 
impartial observer can fail to see that it has been connect- 
ed with all that has been good and valuable in this com- 
munity, — the intelligence, the enterprise and the civility 
which has characterized the people of the place from the 
beginning, as well as with the religious and eternal inter- 
ests of men. 

WITHOUT A CHURCH. 

Without the church there would have been no general 
and proper observance of the christian Sabbath, — no re- 
ligious worship maintained either in the church or in 



56 Centennial Celebration, 

families, — there would have been no such successions of 
pious men and women as there have been, and no such 
peaceful and triumphant deaths as have been known here. 
Without a church the christian ministry could not have 
been sustained and there would have been no one to haA'e 
attended funerals. The whole town is, therefore, indebt- 
ed to the church for much more than we have ever sup- 
posed. Without a church, a Sabbath and a christian peo- 
ple, God the Saviour would not have dwelt with this com- 
munity as he has for the two generations under review. 

DIFFICULTY OF SUSTAINING IT. 

It has required effort and sacrifices from the beginning 
to sustain the interest of this church. Families in moder- 
ate cu'cumstances have not known how to meet the expenses 
which, from this cause, have come upon them. But in view 
of the past we ask what money has been better appropriat- 
ed, what expenditure has turned to better account ? Who 
have been the prosperous and happy families for a course 
of years ? They who have neglected the house of God or 
they who have come up fully to their proportion in sup- 
porting the institutions of religion ? We court examina- 
tion on this subject. May the present generation learn 
wisdom from the past and as they would secure the good 
order and prosperity of the community, the virtue and 
intelligence of families, and the eternal welfare of all, 
let them cherish their pious people. Let them seek the 
welfare of the churches ; let them sustain and attend up- 
on the preaching of the gospel, and bring their children 
to the Sabbath School. 

THE EXPERIENCE OF THE PAST. 

The experience of the past dictate this as the course 
of wisdom. Let the following be the sentiment of each 



Other Churches. — Baptist ChurcA, 57 

family in town, in reference to its own church : " If I for- 
get thee O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cun- 
ning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave 
to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above 
my chief joy." Then may we expect that God will have 
a people here, that he will be with them and bless them 
in generations to come. " Happy is that people that is in 
such a case, yea, happy is that people whose God is the 
Lord." 

NOTICE OF OTHER CHURCHES. 

The early history of this ancient church has been some- 
what minutely given, because of its intimate connec- 
tion with the history of the town, and because the mate- 
rials were at hand, as they might not be again. Other 
churches of importance have since arisen, but their his- 
tory comes mainly witliin the modern history of the town 
which it is not the present purpose to give. 

BAPTIST CHURCH. 

Of the Baptist church in the village in the north part of 
the town, it should be said that it was formed in 1811 and 
that worship has ever since been maintained there. Rev. 
Mr. Tripp was the first pastor and continued nine j^ears. 
Pie was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Barron, Rev. Mr. Lovejoy, 
Rev. Mr. Chamberlain, Rev. Mr. Huntley and others. 
This church has embraced many valuable christian people, 
whose influence has been felt for the benefit of the town. 
Her ministers have done important services in town. 
Several interesting revivals have been enjoyed there and 
the church has been a blessing to the region around. It 
has now a good house of worship and must be held re- 
sponsible for furnishing religious instruction to the peo- 
ple in that vicinity. May the presence of a common 
Saviour be with them. 



58 Centennial Celebration. 

FREEWILL BAPTIST CHURCH. 

A Freewill Baptist church was formed in the west part 
of the town in 1835, with seven members. Rev. Horace 
Webber was the first pastor. Several seasons of revival 
have been enjoyed in this church and additions made to 
its numbers at different times. The house of worship 
was built in 1853, and the church now consists of eighty- 
eight members. These three churches, now named, are 
well situated to meet the religious wants of the town. 
Though of different denominations, may they in their 
several fields seek the honor of their common Lord, and 
the salvation of their fellow men, and have a part in the 
coming of the kingdom of our Lord. 

FUTURE PROSPERITY. 

Our thoughts are drawn to the future of the town. The 
territory is to be occupied by generation after generation 
in all time to come. These fields, hills and plains are to 
be theirs after we sleep in our graves. We welcome them 
to this occupancy and would have them know that all this 
land has been worked over by busy hands. Some portion 
of the land, which was valuable and productive when new, 
has become barren and many barren places, under cultiva- 
tion, have become fertile. 

ANCIENT APPEARANCE OF THE HILLS. 

Fifty years ago these hills, now covered with so luxur- 
iant a foliage, were covered with the dark spruce and 
pine, with their sharp tops pointing to the skies, and af- 
ter a time they were one after another burned over, the 
green growth killed to dry in the sun and decay. Another 
fire would then occur at the dry season and the people 
were in this way often reminded of Mount Sinai, when 



Campion Hills. 59 

the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top 
of the mountains. In this way, in successive j^ears, every 
vegetable substance upon these hills decayed and was 
burned up and nothing but the bald and rugged rocks of 
different colors appeared. The whole scenery of the 
place was rough and unsightly. Had this general aspect 
remained, your town would hardly have been sought as 
it now is for the beanty of its scenery. The grandeur 
was here, but not the beauty. 

THEIR PRESENT BEAUTY. 

The vast piles of rocks are now covered with a foliage 
which surpasses in luxuriance and beauty almost any 
part of the land. An article in a newspaper of the day 
has the following : 

" Campton has often been termed the rival of Conwaj^ 
The two have been compared to a pair of scales, of which 
the intervening mountains form the beam. The beautiful 
intervales, broad meadows waving with grain, the grace- 
ful grouping of the elms and maples, all seem as if fitted 
and placed in the most desirable position that nature may 
exhibit her treasures in the loveliest forms. No wonder 
that artists linger here and attempt to transmit the beau- 
ties of these scenes to canvass. There are views from 
difierent places in this town, which are hardly equalled 
any where else. 

WELCOME TO COMING GENERATIONS. 

The coming generations are welcomed to all that is 
grand and beautiful among our hills, and also to the in- 
stitutions established by the fathers of the town, — to the 
schools, to the churches and to our puritan Sabbaths. 
But we admonish you that if you would live and prosper 
here, habits of stern industry and of the closest economy 



60 Centennial Celebration. 

must be adopted. If yonx object be ease, and wealth for 
your children, you will turn to our cities or to the west. 
But if you would bring forward a family to be respected 
and honored and who can live anywhere, let them come 
forward with the virtues and habits of industry and 
economy practised among this people. Such are the men 
who are making their mark abroad, and who are fii*st and 
foremost in the enterprises of our times, and New Hamp- 
shire has sent forth more of them than any other State 
in the Union. 

CARE OF THE GRAVE YARDS. 

To the care of coming generations in all time, we com- 
mit the graves of our fathers and mothers and dear ones. 
To each generation we commit this sacred trust. The 
burying ground upon the hill near the place of the old 
church was procured and established by vote of the town 
in 1776, and at the same time the burying ground upon 
the west side of the river. These and other places of 
sepulture within the town, are God's acre, and we trust 
will be properly cared for. From these graves are to 
come forth glorious forms at the final consummation of 
all things. Let no sacrilegious hand be laid upon them. 



SONG COMPOSED BY E. PRONK, 

SEPTEMBER 12t7i, 1867. 

This town was all a forest deep, 

One hundred years ago, 
The vales were low, the hills were steep, 

And rivers wandered through. 



• Song. 61 

A few brave men, a pilgrim band, 

Sought this far-off location, — 
They saw it was a goodly land, 

And here they fixed their station. 

From time to time more settlers came, 

And many a spot was camped on ; 
At length the town must have a name, 

And so they called it Campton. 
Now wake the harp, and tune the lyre, 

To sing of ancient days, 
This rural theme the song inspire, 

To sound old Campton's praise. 

In homespun were the people dressed, 

Of woolen, tow or linen, 
Their Sunday suits, which were the best, 

Were neatly made by women. 
And women then could wash and bake, 

And also were good spinners, 
The maids could ply the hoe and rake, 
, While matrons cooked the dinners. 

Our fathers' raised a house of prayer, 

When few there were to build it, 
And everj^ Sabbath, foul or fair. 

The people nobly filled it. 
To meeting went, both j^oung and old, 

'Twas then but little trouble. 
For none would keep a horse we're told, 

That would not carry double. 

So all on horse-back then did ride, 

Unless they went b}^ sledding. 
And e'en the bridegroom and the bride, 

Rode double to the wedding, 



62 Centennial Celebration. 

And though the girls, we're told 'tis true, 
Could not then dance cotillions, 

We know that all the country through 
They used to ride on pillions. 

And now the times, we say, improve, 

And learning is more plenty, 
At railroad pace the people move, 

And when they're five and twenty. 
They've gone the rounds of learned lore, 

Ai'e fit for any station. 
Then quickly pass, are seen no more, 

And thus goes on the nation. 

This season be a land-mark strong, 

To guide us on our way, 
And as we pass through life along, 

Let us not go astray. 
To good old days we'll bid adieu, 

And so we'll travel on. 
We'll wish for all, good hearts and true. 

And now wind up our song. 



CLERGYMEN OF CAMPTON. 



BY REV. DANIEL PULSIFER. 



Mr. President — Ladies and Gentlemen : 

Gladly would I speak of those, who, from the early 
settlement of the town, have preached the gospel in 
Campton, and to the credit of the early settlers, for in- 
telligence and piety, mention him^ who was subsequently 



Clergymen of Campion, 63 

known as Dr. Emmons, as the person who was called to 
be the first minister of the town. I would also speak of 
him who actually was the fii'st settled minister of the 
town, and whose benevolent regard for the good of the 
people, after he was dismissed from a pastorate of near 
twenty years, prompted him to get up a social library 
consisting of the most valuable books then extant, and 
which had great influence in forming the minds and 
moulding the character of the conmiunity. I should be 
pleased to speak of Rev. Daniel Staniford, an excellent 
minister, and of Rev. Warren Day and Rev. Jonathan 
L. Hale, men of much prayer, and who could not rest 
without success in their ministry, and of others also to 
whom the words of the poet were applicable : 

Whose hearts are warm, 
Whose hands are pure, — whose doctrine and whose life, 
Coincident, exhibit lucid proof. 
That they are honest in the sacred cause. 

But these have been mentioned already, and I must 
confine my remarks to natives of Campton who have en- 
tered the ministry. But, Mr. President, is the juror al- 
lowed to sit upon a matter in which he is interested ? Or 
is the jurist's argument relied upon when his interest is 
identified with that of his client ? But with one excep- 
tion, perhaps I may be allowed to speak of these men. 

I am not aware that any native of Campton entered 
the ministry till after the revival of religion in 1815. 
Not very far from this time, events occurred in this town 
worthy of particular note. As far back as that when the 
laws of New Hampshire required males from sixteen to 
forty years of age to be enrolled in the militia, and all 
military companies to meet in the month of June, annual- 
ly, for inspection and drill. And custom, almost as bind- 
ing as law, required soldiers to visit their officers on 
these occasions, burn powder and drink rum in honor of 



64 Centennial Celebration. 

their superiors. Two or three years previous to 1815, a 
young man of this town had the thumb of his left hand 
torn away by his gun's splitting which was probably one 
cause of his afterward going to Haverhill to attend the 
Academy. Another young man not far from this time, 
was killed at the raising of a house frame. This last 
event led some young minds in this town to more serious 
thought than they had been in the habit of entertaining. 
In the Autumn of 1815, the Haverhill student was hope- 
fully born again in a revival of religion in the Academy 
where he was studying. On the first Sabbath after his 
return from Haverhill, this young man, with affections 
warmed into life by the love of God shed abroad in his 
heart, invited his 3'oung associates to go with him during 
the interim of public worship, to a school house near the 
meeting house, where he read to them an address on the 
subject of religion which had then been recently delivered 
to the students of Nassau Hall. This proved a good be- 
ginning. The next Sabbath the house was filled, the 
windows raised and many stood at tliem listening, while 
prayers were offered and addresses delivered. After this 
these meetings were held at the house of Dea. David 
Bartlett. 

But from this time the work of revival went on, till the 
hopeful converts numbered nearly one hundred. Of these, 
nine subsequently entered the ministry, if we include 
Christopher Marsh, who was hopefully converted at Ha- 
verhill, and George Elliott, who was a subject of this re- 
vival, though a native of Thornton. There was also 
another subject of this revival who consecrated himself to 
the work of the ministry, ])ut was called away by death 
while a member of college, viz : Leonard Willey. In 
speaking of these men I think that I shall speak truly 
and give no offence to any one, when I utter the opinion 
that the Haverhill student, Avho did so much to promote 



Clergymen of Ccmipton. 65 

the revival in this town, to which I have alhided, was not 
only first in point of time to enter the ministry, but was 
first also in talent, first in piety, first in real consecration 
to the work, being as we have reason to believe, richly 
anointed with the Holy Spirit. And he was the first also 
whom Infinite wisdom saw best to call home to the bright 
world of glory, to enjoy God's love in heaven ; where, 
doubtless, many souls are received as seals of his minis- 
try and as stars in the crown of his rejoicing. Christo- 
pher Marsh should long be remembered with thanksgiv- 
ing to God, by the good people of Campton. And prob- 
ably many in other places have reason to thank God for 
putting him into the ministry. 

Perhaps, in point of talent, piety and a prospect for 
usefulness, we ought to place next to Mr. Marsh the indi- 
vidual who was called home to glory during his collegiate 
coui'se. Leonard Willey was no unpromising youth ; but 
God saw best to take him, ere he was prepared to enter 
the ministry, to higher services in glory. 

There have been revivals of religion in Campton, and 
many hopeful conversions since 1815, and some of these 
converts too have entered the ministry, making the whole 
number not less than fourteen, thirteen of whom are now 
living so far as known, besides Leonard Willey who con- 
secrated himself to the work, but died ere his preparation 
was completed. 

Inhabitants of Campton, especially natives, what mat- 
ter of gratitude to the God of all grace that from time to 
time He has granted the influences of His Spirit, and so 
gloriously revived his work. And in addition to this, 
that there have been so many, who cannot only thank 
God for sending His Spirit into their hearts and drawing 
them to Christ, but, as we humbly hope, can add " I 
thank Jesus Christ my Lord, for that He counted me 
faithful in putting me into the ministry." God grant that 



66 Centennial Celebration, 

all these now living may carefully examine themselves, 
and be found faithful unto the end. I think one of this 
number maj^ well be particularized here, as having suffer- 
ed much during the late rebellion ; having to forsake all, 
flee for his life, and yet was, at last, taken by the rebels 
and their sympathizers among the Indians, and probably 
would have lost his life but for the persevering efforts of 
an affectionate, and beloved daughter. I refer to Rev. 
Worcester Willey, missionary among the Indians. And 
let me so far advocate woman's rights as to mention 
another individual, a lady missionarj^ a native of this 
town who was subjected to similar sufferings to those of 
Mr. Willey. I refer now to Mrs. Palmer, whose maiden 
name was Eliza Giddings. There is another individual 
who I think should not be forgotten in this connection, 
for though he never entered the ministry, he was a faith- 
ful missionary among the Indians for several years. This 
individual was a fatherless boy of some twelve or thirteen 
years of age, in 1830 or 1831, when he attended a pro- 
tracted religious meeting at Plymouth, where he was 
hopefully converted, and immediately became a mission- 
ary in an important sense, as he immediately commenced 
striving to persuade his associates to become christians. 
On Sabbath noon, he might be seen conversing with those 
near his own age on this all-important subject. He seem- 
ed to feel, from the very beginning of his christian course, 
that his own ease, convenience and comfort must be entire- 
ly subservient to God's will. Accordingly, though he was 
naturally near sighted and had w^holly lost the sight of 
one eye, he felt that he must try to prepare himself to 
be useful. He attended the Academy at Plymouth, when 
Rev. Samuel Reed Hall was principal, and acquired a 
very good common education. He then offered himself 
to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 
sions, and was accepted and sent as a teacher among the 



Clergymen of Campion. 67 

Indians, where he continued his faithful labors till blind- 
ness prevented his doing more. He then took up liis con- 
nexion with the Board and soon after died, full of love to 
God and the souls of men. It was said of him by a per- 
son of excellent judgment, who knew him well, " I never 
knew so self-denying a man as Charles Pulsifer." Will 
our christian friends be pleased to offer their prayers for 
clergymen, natives of Campton, w^ho may be still living, 
that they may ever stand fli'm in God's counsel, and as 
they have strength and opportunit}^ cause the people to 
hear His Word ; being preserved by Him who walketh in 
the midst of the golden candlesticks and holdeth the stars 
in his right hand. 

And now as we have been looking back upon some few 
events of the past, how naturall}^ are we drawn to an- 
ticipate the future, and earnestly entreat Him who ever 
lives and watches over the interests of His kindgom upon 
the earth, who waits to be gracious, hears prayer and is 
ready to bestow His blessing, that He will in the century 
to come, revive His work an hundred fold in Campton, 
and in other places through the land and world ; and far 
down in the hearts of great multitudes cause to be felt 
the hidden power of Divine Grace, working mightily at 
the very fountain of life and action, and raising up scores 
of gospel ministers, even here in Campton, far more rich- 
ly anointed with the Holy Ghost than any of their prede- 
cessors ever have been. And in view of the signs of the 
times and the predictions of God's Word, may we not 
hope that ere another century close or not very far beyond 
that time that the voice of a great multitude, like that of 
many waters and many thunderings, shall be heard say- 
ing " Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." 



68 Centennial Celebration. 



COMMON SCHOOLS. 



BY W. C. BLAIR. 



Mr. President : lu response to the sentiment just 
read, I confess myself utterly at loss in the brief time, 
which I know I must occupy to do anything like adequate 
justice to the theme. 

The distinguishing characteristic of our American civ- 
ilization, and especially the New England type of that 
civilization, is the intelligence of the mass of the people. 
In Spain, in France, in Russia, even in classic Italy, in 
short in all Europe, — except perchance some of the Ger- 
man States, and possibly Sweden, — we find among the 
great body of the people that ignorance is the rule and 
knowledge the exception. 

But it is not so here. The people in this country read 
the newspapers and the Bible, discuss politics and theolo- 
gy, and vote and worship as they please. There the 
mass of the population are chiefly interested in cock 
fights, bull fights, bear gardens, masquerade balls and the 
inevitable theatres of high and low degree. 

Now what is true of our civilization as a whole, comes 
out in bold relief when considered in detail. For in- 
stance, New England in the methods and success of popu- 
lar education is far in advance of the rest of the country, 
and Massachusetts is in advance of any State in New 
England, and some towns and cities in that great com- 
monwealth in advance of a large majority of the residue 
of towns and cities. 

So in our own State, in the methods and means of dif- 
fusing knowledge among the masses ; some towns are 
much superior to others, and I claim here and now, that 
in this respect, Campton occupies a proud pre-eminence. 



Common Schools. 69 

Within my own remembrance, I recollect that our 
good old town was the pioneer in the school house reform 
in this part of the State. The first old school house that 
gave place to a fine structure, complete in all its apart- 
ments, was at the village. I well remember that our 
wealthy and enterprising neighbors, in the most charming 
village in this beautiful valley of the Pemigewasset, were 
content with about as wretched and dilapidated a speci- 
men of school architecture as ever shocked human vision 
or gave to the very swine that might pass that way, long- 
ing for a habitation and a home. Yet that unseemly 
structure for the difi'usion of knowledge to young ideas, 
perched upon an almost inaccessible bluff*, existed for 
several 3^ears after the comparatively poor village of Camp- 
ton had such a school house as I have before mentioned, 
at once the pride and boast of the whole town. 

Campton, I say then, was the pioneer in the great work 
of making decent habitations for public instruction, and if 
our good mother to-day stands more prosperous in her 
general material interests, in her enterprises for the pub- 
lic welfare, in her quiet but not less earnest devotion to 
the practical business of good living, and by the term 
good living, I mean to include the practice of all moral 
and spiritual virtues ; if, in a word, Campton really is, 
and she is, one of the first towns in the State, it is due 
more than to any one other thing, to the high character 
of her public schools. She has alwaj's stood high in this 
regard. From the early settlement of the town down 
through the ten decades of her existence, her schools 
have been superior, and her sous and daughters have been 
the recipients of better instruction, and more of it than 
has been vouchsafed to the people of most of our New 
Hampshire towns. 

But this subject opens up a wide field, and I might 
occupy a full hour in observations upon this line of 



70 Centennial Celebration. 

thou£]^ht. I forbear, however, as the teachers of Campton 
claim our attention for a few moments. 

Of course there must of necessity in every town be 
two classes of teachers, to wit : Natives of the town 
who taught school in the town and abroad, and those who 
were not natives that came into the town to teach. 

Of the early teachers of Campton, I know but little. 
Enough evidence, however, exists of their diligence, 
fidelity and efficiency, in those instructed by them in their 
da}'', as evinced by what they have achieved in after life. 

Perhaps of more modern days, I may be able to sug- 
gest a few incidents of interest. During the Autumn 
and Winter of 1862 and 1863, I happened, by accident, 
to board for a few weeks where several of the Judges of 
the Supreme Court of the United States boarded, and 
during that time I became acquainted with one of their 
number, who imformed me that the first school that he 
ever taught was at Campton Village. In conversation 
with him, I observed that his appreciation of the solid 
and stable character of Campton people, induced him to 
bear high testimony both to the intellectual and moral 
worth of the people. Without making any invidious dis- 
tinction, it is enough to say that almost every family was 
mentioned, among whom I well remember the Willeys, 
Bakers, Pulsifers, Littles, Holmes', Clarks, Spencers, and 
many others. Judge Clifford's idea of the superior char- 
acter of the people of the town, was, I know predicated 
upon the excellence of their schools. 

I have the honor of an intimate acquaintance with 
another teacher of the village school. I refer to my bril- 
liant and accomplished townsman, Col. T. J. Whipple, 
one of the most remarkable men of our time, in many re- 
spects. 

He taught the school at Campton Village about thirty- 
three years ago, and his reminiscences of that time are 



Common Schools. 71 

exceedingly interesting. 1 remember among other things 
an incident showing the discipline he had in his school. 
The minister, as was the custom, visited the school, and 
his son, a boy about fifteen 5^ears old, at that precise age 
at which boys know more than ever afterwards, attended 
the school. Presuming, upon his father's presence as a 
source of protection, the j^oungster took advantage of the 
occasion and behaved with most unseeml}^ rudeness. 
Tom, as we familiarly called him at home, called the 
youth into the floor and administered to him in the pres- 
ence of his father, a most severe castigation. The father, 
unlike many parents, congratulated the teacher and prom- 
ised to administer the same punishment when the disobe- 
dient lad reached home. The Colonel also related many 
other incidents of interest connected with his school 
teaching experience in Campton. 

Of teachers w^ho taught awa}^ from Campton, nearly 
every professional man here to-day or absent, has at some 
time in his life, been a common school teacher, and with 
many of them it was the only means by which they were 
enabled to obtain their education. Of them it may be 
justly said, that their success in professional life is ample 
evidence of their capacity and influence as teachers. 

One teacher who was a native of this town, made teach- 
ing a profession, and who had long experience both at 
home and abroad, I cannot help calling to your particular 
notice. I refer to Samuel R. Adams. In the late war, 
his valuable life, with hundreds of thousands of others, 
was given as a sacrifice upon the altar of his countrj^ to 
make it free indeed. He has passed aw^ay, but his in- 
fluence and his example, have survived the patriot's grave. 
As a teacher he had unusual capacity. He knew how to 
command the love as well as obedience of all his pupils. 
He was firm, 3^et not harsh, ruling with kindness, y^t al- 
ways holding his school closely in hand. In him were 



72 Centennial Celebration. 

united all the qualities of a good teacher, and he exempli- 
fied in his life and character the highest qualities of a 
christian and a gentleman. Can I pay higher compli- 
ment than this to mortal man ? 

There are verj^^ many others, whom I have in mind, and 
would gladly mention in this connection, but I am re- 
minded I have already occupied too much of your time. 
And in conclusion permit me to offer the following senti- 
ment : 

The future of Campion. If she is as faithful to the 
interests of popular education in the years that are to 
come as in the past, she will ever remain, materially, in- 
tellectually and morally, among the foremost of New 
England towns. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOLS OF CAMPTON. 



BY W. CHASE. 



It is well known that there are in the solid ledge of the 
beautiful Connecticut Valley, many clear and distinct 
tracks of birds ; footprints of small as well as large mem- 
bers of the feathered tribe. The natural question that 
arises in view of this fact is, " How came they there?" 
We conclude that a long, long time ago the red sand stone 
ledge, so hard now, was in a soft plastic state, prepared 
to receive whatever impressions might be made upon it. 
Then it must be these birds walked upon the plastic yield- 
ing substance, that since has become hard and firm, re- 
taining as the record of iron pen this account of their 
transactions in those early days. Thus it is with the hu- 
man mind in childhood, it is wonderfully plastic, prepar- 



Sabbath Schools of Campion. 73 

ed expressly by the hand of the Allwise Creator to readi- 
ly receive and imperishably retain impressions. Our 
Puritan fathers were persecuted in England because they 
worshiped God, as they thought they ought, and therefore 
they sought an asylum in Holland. But although they 
were there allowed to worship God and instruct their 
children as they believed right, the3'^ soon found that the 
habits and manners of the Dutch youth had a pernicious 
influence on their children, and must unavoidably tend to 
corrupt their morals and prevent their training them in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord. To this they 
could not be reconciled. The new world through the 
skill and enterprise of Columbus had been discovered, 
and they determined to seek a home in it, hoping there to 
be free from those contaminating influences that had oper- 
ated so unfavorably on their youth. They therefore em- 
barked upon the bosom of the mighty deep, in the imper- 
fect sailing vessels of that day, and after a long and dan- 
gerous voyage, landed on the bleak and inhospitable shore 
of Cape Cod. 

Be it remembered then, that our fathers left all the 
privileges and comforts of a long settled and fertile coun- 
try, and bufleted the waves and exposed themselves to 
the dangers of the billowy deep, and came to this wilder- 
ness to dwell amongst wild beasts and more savage men, 
to suflfer from privation and want for the express purpose 
of training their children in habits of piety and virtue. 
Honor to their memory. They valued the right training 
and instruction of their children more than all worldly 
good. With these views and purposes, combined with 
the wisdom that cometh from above, they erected the 
church and placed the school house in its friendly shade, 
and brought their combined influence to operate in in- 
structing the minds and moulding the hearts of their 
youth. They sought and procured holy and wise men to 



74 Centennial Celebration. 

instruct them in the word of God and lead them in His 
worship. Here they all, young and old, repaired every 
Sabbath and on other days when they thought it expe- 
dient, to the house dedicated to this purpose, and listen- 
ed with unwearied attention while their teacher expound- 
ed God's word and brought forth his stores of theological 
lore. They also instructed their childi'en around the 
family altar and at their firesides in the sacred scriptures, 
and had them commit portions of them to memory. They 
secured the services of persons qualified by good charac- 
ter, learning and skill, to teach the children to read and 
write, and the elementary principles of science. And all 
of suitable age were required to repair to the school house 
on week days, a portion of the 3^ear at least, to receive 
this important instruction. Thus a new and important 
era was commenced in the history of civilization, in 
which all, whatever the circumstances or pecuniary con- 
dition of their parents, were taught the rudiments of 
science, and the foundation of general intelligence was 
securely laid. But another institution was needed to more 
fully develop the religious nature and more effectually 
mould the heart aright. This is the Sabbath School. 
Here the scholar is brought under the influence of those 
best qualified by piety and intelligence, tact and skill, to 
cultivate the higher nature. The word of God, the most 
effectual means in this work, is brought into close contact 
with the mind and heart at the most favorable time. And 
when we take into consideration these facts, and especial- 
ly the inability of many parents to well instruct, and the 
indifference of others in regard to the religious instruc- 
tion and training of their children, we cannot but feel the 
importance of this institution in bringing forward th% 
glorious period in the world's history, clearly predicted 
of in God's word, when none need to say to his neighbor, 
" Know the Lord," for all shall know Him from the least 
to the greatest. 



Sabbath Schools of Camptoyi. 75 

The descendants of the Puritans many years ago, sany 
the importance of this institution and organized Sabbath 
'Schools all over New England. And the goodly town of 
Campton was not wanting in wise and good men to carry 
forward this work. In 1822 or about this time, Rev. 
Daniel Pulsifer, who so appropriately asked God to grant 
His blessing on this occasion, with some others whose 
hearts God had touched, to act for the rising race, met 
and oro-anized a Sabbath School in connection with the 
public worship of the Congregational church. It has 
since that time been conducted with good success, much 
of the time embracing a large part of the congregation. 
It has greatly benefitted society, promoted the right ob- 
servance of the Sabbath, and above all has aided many 
to find Christ and heaven. Many will rise up in heaven, 
I doubt not, and call the founders and faithful laborers in 
this school blessed. About the time that this school was 
organized, Edmund Cook, since gone to his reward, invit- 
ed the children in the north part of the town to come to- 
gether and organized them into a Sabbath School and 
taught them with good success. His zeal and sacrifice in 
this work of love, is worthy of special commendation. I 
frequently meet those who enjoyed his instruction and 
labor to encourage them to learn Scripture truth and im- 
prove in this school. They tell me that he used to make 
little trunks, and present them to those who were most 
constant and diligent in their eflTorts. After a time the 
Baptist Society built a house of worship and organized a 
school in connection with the church that worshipped 
there, and it has been a great blessing to many. The 
speaker cannot forbear here to gratefully express his obli- 
gation to the founders and friends of this school. He 
expects to bless God forever that he was led in early 
childhood into this sacred institution, and especially that 
he was encouraged to learn portions of Scripture to recite 



76 Centewiial Celebration, 

there. More recently a meeting for public worship has 
been established, and a Sabbath School organized in the 
west part of the town by the Freewill Baptist Church, which' 
I doubt not has been well conducted and accomplished 
much good. Other schools have been gathered and sus- 
tained for a short time in school houses in various parts 
of the town. But I think now there are only these three 
that have been mentioned that are in operation. 

But are there not districts in town where a wise and 
enterprising christian laborer can collect jewels for the 
Saviour's crown by gathering the children, and teaching 
them the truths of the gospel of Jesus, and obtain for 
himself a reward which is of more value than all the pre- 
cious treasures of earth ? If the seed of God's word is 
not sown in their hearts, it will never spring up and bring 
forth fruit unto their salvation. And if it be not sown 
there in childhood, it will not be very likely to take root 
so as to bear this fruit at all. Who will sow it ? Or shall 
they be neglected to peTish, — to lose eternal life, to be 
cast off, and the Saviour lose their praise ? What an ap- 
peal does this case present to those who love Christ and 
priceless souls. In view of the readiness of children to 
receive Imi^ressions, and the tenacity, undying tenacity 
with which they retain them, what encouragement there 
is to gather them together on the Sabbath and teach them 
the Word of God, which is able to mould them into the 
image of Jesus. And in view of the facts in the case we 
ask all to carefully consider the question, "Is not the 
Sabbath School the most efficient of all means to hasten 
the glorious era when the knowledge of the glory of God 
shall fill the earth and all shall know the Lord from the 
least to the greatest?" Our duty is plain, our encourage- 
ment is great, to labor to bring every child into the Sab- 
bath school and to exert the most sacred influence upon 
his mind and heart while he is there. 



Remarks by Rev. Mr. Smith. 77 



" HOW DEAR TO MY HEART ARE THE SCENES 
OF MY CHILDHOOD." 



BY REV. FRENCH SMITH. 



Mr. President — Ladies and Gentlemen : 

I once heard of a public speaker who, in addressing his 
audience, stated that he remembered certain events that 
occurred when his grandmother w^as a little girl. I sup- 
pose he intended to say he remembered of hearing his 
grandmother relate certain events that occurred when she 
was a little girl. 

Now, Mr. President, I think I should find no difficulty 
in interesting this audience in speaking upon the scenes 
of my childhood, if among those scenes were the events 
connected with the early history of this town which oc- 
curred when my grandparents were little children. And 
as there were interesting scenes in the days of their child- 
hood which were peculiar to the fii'st settlements in this 
town, — which events- we have come here to-day to com- 
memorate, — it may be proper for me briefly to refer to a 
few of them. 

It is eighty-eight years since my grandfather, a beard- 
less boy of nine years, came to Campton. How interest- 
ing to contemplate the scenes of that early day ; to go in 
imagination among the scattered settlers and see them 
laboring with their rude implements of agriculture, some 
specimens of which are here to-da}^, and then to enter 
their humble dwellings and partake of a Rebekah's A^eni- 
son served on wooden plates, or with a pewter spoon eat 
lucious bean-porridge. Or coming down nine years later 
in the history of the town, to the time my great-grand- 
father Giddings, moved from Newburyport, Massachusetts, 



78 Centennial Celebration. 

to Campton, we find scenes strange and ludicrous. My 
great-grandmotlier rode on horseback, carrying her young- 
est child in her arms. The rest of the children either 
went on foot or rode, — not in a stage coach, or railroad 
car drawn by the boiling teakettle which has been jnen- 
tioned here to-day, — but in a cart propelled by ox power 
at the usual bovine speed. 

They completed their journey in about a week, thus 
occupying more time than is now necessary in going from 
Maine to Kansas. Among the valuables which that cart 
contained was this book which I hold in my hand, entitled 
*' The Fulfilling of the Scriptures." It was printed by 
Robert Fleming, in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1743, and 
is consequently one hundred and twenty-four years old. 
It was first owned by my grandmother's gi-andmother in 
the days of her girlhood, and her name, Abigail Bartlett, 
is legibly written on the fii'st page. Among those that 
rode in the cart was a blushing maiden of sweet sixteen, 
named Polly. Miss Poll}' , notwithstanding her ride in 
the cart, was too dignified to give her hand in matrimony 
to the green boys of Campton, and as a reward for her 
folly she has been living an old maid for the last sixty- 
five years. Next Monday is her ninty-sixth birthday. 
Even these scenes, which we never saw only in imagina- 
tion, are dear to our hearts from the reverence we have 
for our ancestry. But in many respects the scenes of our 
fathers' were the scenes of our childhood. It is true the 
forests had fallen before the woodman's ax, the log houses 
with their huge fireplaces had given way to more comfort- 
able dwellings ; instead of the howl of the wolf there was 
heard the rattling of the stage coach or the whistling of 
the engine, but the everlasting hills remained with their 
rocky sides and rippling brooks. The same pure moun- 
tain breezes blow o'er these hills and through these vales 
now as then, the same varieties of flowers bud and bios- 



Remarks of Rev. Mr. Smith. V9 

som, the same species of birds now as then make their 
annual visits and warble forth the same sweet songs of 
praise to Him who made them. The church organized in 
the days of our grand-parents had its existence in the days 
of our childhood and long may it thrive a nursery of 
piety, a blessing to the world. 

Dearer to our hearts are these rugged hills with their 
beautiful and varied scenery, than the expansive prairies 
of the West or the rich cotton fields of the South. Here 
the first and most lasting impressions of oiu' lives were 
made. The scenes of childhood, who can forget them? 
The solemnities of a funeral ; the festivity of a marriage ; 
how impressive. How bright are the sunny dreams of 
childhood ; the heart unacquainted with grief, unbroken 
by affliction's rod, is buoyant with hope. Pleasures and 
blessedness, unmixed with woe, gild the future pathway 
of life. When in after years experience has blasted many 
of our fond hopes, and pleasures for which we never look- 
ed have been ours to enjoy, how pleasant to bring to mind 
the anticipations of childhood. And the scenes of our 
childhood bring fresh to our memories the thoughts, sor- 
rows, joys, words and acts of our childhood, and those 
scenes also bring fresh to our memories parents and 
grandparents, schoolmates and youthful associates, many, 
very many of whom have gone to that land from whence 
no traveler returns. Go to the aged and perhaps the 
events of yesterday are forgotten, but if there is anything 
clear in their memories it is the scenes of their childhood. 
Go to the bed of the djdng and they too are thinking up- 
on the scenes of their childhood and seem to derive satis- 
faction by being assm-ed that they shall be buried by the 
graves of their fathers. Many of the sons and daughters 
of Campton who have died in distant towns or other 
States, have been brought to the scenes of then* child- 
hood for interment. And this sentiment is no new princi- 



80 Centennial Celebration. 

pie. TTe read that Israel charged his sons that they bury 
him with his fathers in the cave of Machpelah, saying 
*' there they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife ; there 
they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife ; and there I bur- 
ied Rachel." 

Pear, thrice dear to our hearts, are the scenes of our 
childhood, and long will we cherish a sacred memory of 
the town which contains the graves of our pious ancestry 
and gave us our birth. And when our " dust shall return 
to the earth as it was, and our spirits shall return unto 
God who gave them," then may our ashes repose in yon- 
der beautiful cemetery in this lovely valley of the Pemige- 
wassetj amid the scenes of our childhood. 



THE SOLDIERS OF THE UNION. 



BY n. W. BLAIR. 



In reviewing the century which expires to-day and 
which comprises more than the whole period of the his- 
tory of the Union, we find that we have not been exempt 
from the common experience of nations. We have pass- 
ed through peace and war, through prosperity and adversi- 
ty. America has a better form of Government and of 
social organization, a higher type of civilization develop- 
ing, if not already developed, than exist anywhere else 
on the earth. Yet this day's retrospect reminds us that 
although in advance of all other nations, we are of the 
same common nature and subject to the operation of the 
same inexorable laws. Like that of the rest of mankind 
much of our history too is written in blood. 

Some philosophers have taught that war is the natural 



Eemarlcs by H. W. Blair, 81 

condition of mankind, and it is certain that no great land- 
mark has been set up in the progress of the race without 
war. 

The great epochs of history have been baptized in 
blood. Popular freedom has been born in battle, and 
reared amid " the clash of resounding arms." By means 
of war the greatest practical good has been realized by 
the masses of men, and a review of the century just past 
proves that relentless, devastating, terrible war, is still 
the chief agency employed by the Supreme Ruler of the 
universe in removing the hoary obstructions reared by 
ignorance, superstition and depravity in the pathway of 
man, to a more exalted destiny. Even the Prince of 
Peace came not to bring peace but by the sword, and the 
religious wars that have in their prosecution blasted the 
earth as flames of the pit might blast the gardens of para- 
dise, attest how true it is that such is the lamentable na- 
ture of man that Emanuel disseminates even the religion 
of love, by means of the organized destruction of human 
life. 

The true soldier is one of the highest types of man. 
He fights only when inspired by a great cause. Battles, 
the physical combat, the bloody collision of armed masses 
of men, the torn field covered with ghastly corses and 
echoing with the agonies of the wounded, — the wail of 
defeat and the shout of triumph, — these are but the inci- 
dents, the sad and unavoidable incidents, not the reality 
of war. They may conceal from common vision the true 
nature of the contest, but the true soldier sees through 
and above it all, the desperate conflict of irreconcilable 
principles, the eternal struggle between right and wrong. 
Nor is it because death is less formidable to him than to 
others, that the ties and endearments of home and kin- 
dred are less precious, — that the fair green earth, the 
sublime forms of the mountains, mighty forests, happy 



82 Centennial Celebration, 

valle3^s and smiling waters, the song of birds, zephyrs, 
and the requiems of the air,— that nature with her ten 
thousand charms, has none for him, that he leads the im- 
petuous charge on and challenges the treacherous assaults 
of malignant disease. Insensibility to danger is not 
courage. The man who comprehends danger and by the 
power of superior motives conquers fear, alone is made 
of the true stuff and is a hero. And it is because his 
soul is blazing with the holy fire of a cause sacred and 
sublime, that he cares not for limb or life, or any of the 
bolts of fate. 

It is eminently fitting on this centennial occasion, when 
our eyes are turned to behold the long train of wonderful 
events by which the wilderness has been transformed into 
the happy home of a civilized and christian common- 
wealth, that the " soldiers of the Union" be held in hon- 
orable remembrance. 

The first soldiers of Campton were soldiers of the 
Union, and some of the first and bravest soldiers of the 
Union were from Campton. 

The historian says that this town although so recently 
settled furnished ten men who upheld the Declaration 
with their " lives, their fortunes and their sacred honors." 
They shed their blood in the time that tried mens' souls. 
Rebels they were against tyrants, but the chosen warriors 
of the Most High God. Whi.le some of them left their 
bones on the battlefield in distant States, others returned 
to enjoy a ripe old age under the protection of that glor- 
ious banner whose ample folds their hands first flung to 
the breezes of heaven. Now they have passed away, and 
their sacred dust sleeps calmly beneath the soil their valor 
redeemed. 

And Campton soldiers fought for the Union when the 
jealousy and impotent wrath of baflled Britain, her wound- 
ed pride still smarting under the mortifying memories of 



Remarks by H. W. Blair. 83 

the revolutionary war, led her to attempt to sweep our 
commerce from the seas and chain the billows of the 
mighty deep. The struggle of 1776 liberated the conti- 
nent and set in motion a train of causes that seems des- 
tined to free every acre of land trodden by the foot of 
man. 

The war of 1812 was to emancipate the waters of the 
world, and worthy sons reared by revolutionary sires, im- 
bibing freedom with every breath drawn among their na- 
tive hills hurried to die at the summons of their country?-, 
and by their consecrated valor they saved the priceless 
heritage the fathers had bequeathed, while the attentive 
world wondered to behold the heroism which triumphed 
at Lexington and Bunker Hill and Saratoga and York- 
town, again in the ascendant at Plattsburgh and New Or- 
leans, and on the slippery decks of our matchless men-of- 
war. 

And in our last tremendous struggle for very life, many 
brave sons of Campton have fought, and alas ! some have 
fallen too, for the Union. Eight men of fourteen who 
enlisted in a single compan}^ gave up their lives within a 
year. Better men never fell for the rights of man ; and 
man}' others equally worthy fell, of whom the time would 
fail us to speak their praise. It is enough, and all that 
on this brief occasion we can say, that sons of Campton 
have fought every foe of the Union and that the sod re- 
news its annual verdure above them on every battle-field 
of our land. 

Departed spirits, — who have passed beyond the vi- 
cisitudes of time to partake the eternal rest of the bless- 
ed, — we cherish the recollection of your earthly forms 
with tears, while we hail 3^our celestial presence with 
transcendant joy. For 3^ou death had no terrors. Filled 
with sacred enthusiasm in a noble cause yom* mortal 
career closed in a zenith of light, and as the thunders of 



84 Centennial Celebration. 

battle vanished on your dying senses the music of the 
heavenly gates " on golden hinges turning and of beauti- 
fied choirs welcomed your ascending souls to the society 
of the long glorified father." Hushed be the tumult of 
life as with the eye of faith we gaze on your transfigured 
forms. Long shall your memory live on these mortal 
shores. Affection has embalmed you in her choicest 
shrine. The patriot shall emulate your example in life 
and in death, and the christian as he enters the valley of 
the shadow of death shall light his torch in the effulgent 
hope that glorified your exit. Peace be unto your ashes 
wherever they lie. God's guardian angels watch over 
them and bedew with tears of heaven the sacred flowers 
that bloom on your scattered graves. 

" On fame's eternal camping ground 

Their silent tents are si^read, 
And glory guards with solemn round 

The bivouac of the dead." 

Nor on this occasion should we forget the living who 
endured or dared whatever has immortalized the dead ; 
and to-day our common countrj^ remembers with pride 
the gallantry and patriotism of her surviving^^sons, many 
of whom are before me, and I ask is there one of you who 
would exchange his record for that of dead Caesar ? Not 
one. To have been a common soldier of the Union is to 
outrank Caesar wrapped in purple robes dyed in the blood 
of millions slain that he might 

" wade through slaughter to a throne, 

And shut the gates of mercy on mankind.". 

There is little left in this world which the humblest 
living soldier of the Union can desire to add to the hon- 
ors of his name. A country, aye in a larger sense a world, 
eaved for humanity by the triumph and preservation of 
our national integrity tln^ough his toils and suff"erings. 



Bemarks by H. W. Blair. 85 

He is in no unmeaning sense, " one of the army of the 
Lord." What more can he ask ? What more can he re- 
ceive of honor at our hands ? 

Give him when maimed and stricken in your service 
only the necessaries of life and he will not trouble you 
for its honors ; that certificate of honorable discharge 
from the army of the Union, proves him to be the peer of 
any of his countrymen. History will take care of him. 

And in closing, allow me to say that I believe municipal 
patriotism can manifest itself in no more commendable 
form than in the erection of appropriate monuments to 
commemorate the self-sacrificing heroism of the soldiers 
of the Union. 

By a recent act of the Legislature every town and city 
in New Hampshire is authorized to raise and expend 
money for that noble object, and I believe that in no other 
way can we perpetuate such an impressive sense of the 
inestimable worth of our free institutions and of this 
glorious Union by whose preservation alone they can be 
transmitted and made perpetual, as by ennobling our 
landscape with monuments whose silent, chaste yet ele- 
gant columns and simple epitaphs, shall forever repeat to 
the long succession of happy and grateful generations to 
come, that first great lesson of patriotic devotion, " 'Tis 
sweet, oh 'tis sweet for our country to die." 

By doing honor to the soldier we honor and foster the 
cause for which he lays down his life. No country can 
or should long continue to exist when its obligations are 
forgotten to those who preserved its life by the sacrifice 
of their own, to its disabled, and to the widows and or- 
phans of its slain or when it ceases to cherish in grateful 
remembrance, the gallant deeds which constitute its na- 
tional renown. 

America will not fail to honor those who in triumph or 
defeat have periled all in her defence, for in the language 



86 Centennial Celebration. 

of the Groat Athenian, " What was the part of gallant 
men they all performed ? Their success was such as the 
Supreme Ruler of the universe dispensed to each." 

All the " soldiers of the Union" have been its bulwark 
in the past, so under God are i\iQj its future hope. One 
century hence, — when every breathing thing that now 
moves in the light of heaven ; when you, honored sir ; 
when the infant that prattles on its mother's arms uncon- 
scious of the profound solemnities we celebrate ; when 
you venerable sires and matrons, who have gathered once 
more within the corporate precincts of our beloved old 
native town, to renew by sacred communings with the un- 
changing forms of nature, the tender associations that 
link you rather with the dead than with the living ; when 
all, all of us shall have moldered away and our names 
shall have been lost in the wide gulf of oblivion, or shall 
linger only in the faint voices of tradition, — may the 
sons of Campton at her next centennial celebration be 
able to transmit, as thank God we now bequeath it to 
them, untarnished the honor of her " soldiers of the Un- 
ion." 



LETTER FROM REV. DR. STONE, 



Concord, Sept. 11, 1867. 

Mr. Bartlett — Dea7' Sir : I received a letter yester- 
day, dated at Campton Village, inviting me to attend your 
Centennial Celebration on the 12th. Please give mj^ com- 
pliments to the Committee and say to them that it would 
give me great pleasure to be present on that occasion, but 
the state of my health will not permit. 

I am a member of the Council which convenes here to- 
morrow to install a pastor over the First Church, but I 



Letters from Rev. Messrs. Stone and Willey. 87 

should be much more interested in going to Campton, if 
I were able. My former residence among you as pastor, 
and my acquaintance with your people and history, give 
me a deep interest in your affairs and welfare. May the 
Lord be with you and make the occasion a blessing to all 
present, and to all future generations, at least for the next 
hundred years. 

Grateful to the Committee for their kind invitation, 
Yours, respectfully, 

Benjamin P. Stone. 



LETTER FROM REV. AUSTIN WILLEY. 



Stockton, California, April, 1868. 
To the Committee of Arrangements for the Centeimial Cele- 
bration at Campton^ New Hampshire : 

Gentlemen : It was with great pleasure that I learned 
of the design to celebrate the Centennial of the settle- 
ment of my honored native town. It was most appro- 
priate. The town was worthy of such commemoration 
and all its true sons, wherever scattered on the earth, 
will gladly respond to its honors. Nothing but impossi- 
bilities prevents my joining, personally, in that grand 
occasion. It is doubtful if another town can be found in 
New England of equal population and natural advantages, 
which has contributed more to human good. Its early 
history was marked by substantial intelligence, sound 
moralitj^ and religious principle, and its sons and daugh- 
ters have gone all over the continent diffusing these in- 
fluences of their native town. And whether on the shore 
of either ocean, among the Rocky Mountains or upon the 



88 Centennial Celebration. 

praries of the West, the name of their dear native town 
awakens emotions which no time or distance can efface. 

There was the old home which meant home. There the 
the scenes of childhood and associations of youth ; there 
the meeting house and school house ; there the grand and 
beautiful in nature, commingled as almost nowhere else ; 
and there the graves of departed generations, watered 
with tears of affection ; there sleep the pious dead, an- 
gels perhaps still watching their dust. How can we re- 
member Campton without grateful affection, and thanking 
those who proposed and carried through this celebration. 

But if that town is to be what it has been, the causes 
of its past distinction must be kept in vigorous activity. 
There certainly were an intelligent christian ministry, 
substantial books, good schools, little liquor traffic, 
close industry and sound religion. Let these control the 
t^ste and habits, and give character to the town, and its 
honor will still advance, while the good flowing from it 
to the world will be as living as the streams from its 
mountain sides. 

Let me propose this sentiment : 

Campton : May its second Centennial Celebration pre- 
sent as pleasing a record as its first. 

A. WiLLEY. 



LETTER FROM E. C. BAKER. 



26 Barrister's Hall, Boston, Sept. 9, 1867. 
Charles Cutter, Esq — 

Dear Sir : Your letter of August first, inviting me to 
be present at a Centennial Celebration of the town of 
Campton, on September 12th, was received in due course 



Letter from E. C. Baker, Esq. 89 

of mail. I have delayed an answer, hoping to be able to 
respond in person at the time designated. 

One hundred years of corporate life, foirly gives your 
town the right to call herself, and to be known as the 
old town of Campton. Not only this but her still earlier 
history, her name indicating it, — being as she was, if I 
am not mistaken, one of the earliest camping grounds of 
those noble men, whose efforts, labors and sufferings, as 
pioneers in the settlement of this Western continent, con- 
tributed so much to the development of the Anglo Saxon 
race and the establishment of a government, deriving all 
its powers from the governed, — gives you a still further 
right, with proud satisfaction, to hail this anniversary 
day. 

One hundred years ! What mighty changes have 
marked their flight ! Who of that day, if now they could 
revisit you, would find anything which thej^ then saw, or 
as they lay and slept in their rude camp, ever dreamed of 
seeing in the sweet valley or on the fertile hills of their 
quiet home ? Who of them all foresaw or prophesied 
then the mighty Empire which they, and such as they, 
were building? Aye! "they builded wiser than they 
knew !" Deep and strong as the eternal granite of these 
hills, they laid the foundations, and in toil, in hardship, 
in privation, in weakness which became strength, they 
builded thereon. Strong, rugged, manly minds and na- 
tures, came as fruite of their labors, and to-day we have 
entered into their labors. It has been well said of our 
State of New Hampshire, that its principal products are 
ice, granite, and men ! 

The men of Campton will bear the examination of his- 
tory, without detriment in the comparison. It is well, 
therefore, that you celebrate your anniversary day. In 
our pride of the past ; in our reverence for the fathers, 
let us not forget their hopes, their objects, the purposes 



90 Centennial Celebration, 

of their struggles, the end of their works. The noblest 
monument we can raise to their memory is not of monu- 
mental stone or sculptured brass, but in institutions of 
government, which shall show to all time to come that we 
appreciate their designs, and guiding ourselves by their 
motives and teachings and following their example, will 
hereafter, as in the past, " march under the old flag, and 
keep step to the music of the Union !" 

One hundred years ! how quickly fled ! and yet how 
great the results ! Then a few weak colonists ; now a 
mighty nation. Then a scattered population skirting the 
Atlantic coast. Now the hum of national industry min- 
gles its song with the roar of the Atlantic sea, and the 
peaceful music of the Pacific wave. Now from the cold 
regions of the North to the fragrant Savannahs of the 
sunny South the rivers run, bearing upon their broad 
bosoms the wealth of the productions of thirty millions 
of free, happy, prosperous and united people. 

One hundred years ! Who can measure to-day the hun- 
dred years to come ? Who can cast their horoscope ? 
Are we in our day building as wisely and as well, as our 
fathers ? Then, indeed, we may in this hour of our re- 
joicing, celebrate the past, and with confident hope look 
forward to the future. 

Regretting that unavoidable circumstances will prevent 
me from enjoying with you the good time you will have, 
I beg to send you as a sentiment : 

*' As we of 1867 say to tJiose of 1767, so may they of 
1967 say of us, worthy sons of noble sires." 
I have the honor to be. 

Very truly, your obedient servant, 

Elihu C. Baker. 



Letter from B. Frank Palmer, LL.D. 91 



LETTER FROM B. FRANK PALMER, LL. D. 



Philadelphia, September P, 1867, 
My Dear Sir : I had the honor to receive your kind 
invitation to attend the first Centennial Celebration of the 
town of Campton, and to read a poem on the occasion. 
The great pressure of my business engagements prevented 
me from arriving at a decision, as I hoped to be able to 
accept the esteemed invitation, and must now be my 
apology for this late reply. 

To revisit the home of my childhood on such an occa- 
sion, — which cannot be repeated in one day, — to mingle 
with m}^ once young friends and kindred at our old gate 
tvay, and listen to the voices of the most honored among 
those who were my *' birds of a feather," friends of my 
youth ; friends of my evil days ; friends in those light- 
winged hours, when the fire of aspkation flashed, to light 
the entrance of the labj^rinth through w^hose devious ways 
my feet must pass among the realities of opening life — to 
recount with them there some of the earlier joys and later 
realities of active life, and earnest endeavors to mark the 
advancement, almost fabulous, of your now noted and 
beautiful town, and contribute, however little I might be 
able, to the interest of the immortal hour which the re- 
turning rounds of centuries will bear along the ages, 
would afford me sweet and lasting joy. But the duties of 
the day, its claims upon me, aye, its promised joys at my 
happy home in the great city of my adoption, constrain 
me to forego the pleasure that such a reunion would af- 
ford. 

I cannot, however, permit the great occasion to pass 
without congratulating 3^ou, citizens of Campton, friends 
and kindred, one and all, upon the happy auspices of 



92 Centennial Celebration. 

your grand and numerous assemblage, to interchange 
salutations with the living and honor the memory of the 
departed. Many of those who have, gone before, now 
sleep in the beautiful cemetery just before you. 

I cannot say that they do not walk, unseen, among j^ou, 
sharing youv bliss and receiving the homage that your 
full hearts offer at this fitting shrine ! Be it so, their 
joys cannot be the less ; yours may be greater. Be it 
otherwise, we shall all follow them ere long, to meet again 
I trust, on that still fairer shore, where there will be but 
one great celebration, and the reunion will be indestructi- 
ble. 

I send you my warm greeting with earnest hopes and 
prayers for the present happiness and future prosperity 
of your beautiful town and all its people. 

An hundred j^ears ! Others will tell the tale of its 
marvelous changes, recounting l^he years of toil and pri- 
vation through which our ancestors fashioned destiny. 
They " spun for us the web of fate" ! By long and per- 
ilous Winter marches, they pierced the unbroken wilder- 
ness ! By unremitting toil they opened the primeval for- 
ests and crossed the " stubborn glebe." In the morning 
of their lives, at the dawn of your town's first rising from 
the night of ages, they sowed broadcast, the seed which 
yields then* children's children harvests richer than 
earth's fair bosom offers in annual benedictions — harvests 
of intelligence, virtue and peace. These worthy Puritans, 
with living faith in the living God, sought more than 
bread, — by which alone man cannot live, — and w^hat they 
sought they found. They put the gospel sickle in, they 
bound the early sheaves of christian love, and bore them 
to that garner into which themselves have since been 
gathered. 

Would that I were worthy to recite their eulogy. But 
if no man shall do it fittingly, it still is done 1 The ver- 



Letter from S. D. Baker, Esq. 93 

dant Tales and waving hill-sides are radiant and vocal 
with their praise. " Who seeks their monnnicnt should 
look around" ! Their lives were solel}- given to useful 
toil, and where they finished their labors, the valleys now 
blossom — 

" Fair as the garden of the Lord." 

I am happy to claim my lineage from such a line, and 
wish, again, that I could meet their children in person, as 
I shall in thought, on the great occasion that will mark 
the auspicious closing of a century ! May the just-dawn- 
ing centur}^ bring more of the same true honor to our 
fathers' children and our own, and may all the sons of 
toil learn from their high example — 

" That self-dependent-power can time defy, 
As i-ocks resist the billows and the sky "I 

With great regard, yours trul}^, 

B. Frank Palmer. 
Charles Cutter, Esq., Campton, N. H. 



LETTER FROM S. D. BAKER, Esq. 



Boar's Head, Hampton, iV. H., Sept. 10, 1867. 

Gentlemen : I regret exceedingly that I am compell- 
ed to decline your invitation to be present at the Centen- 
nial Celebration of my native town. The nature of my 
present engagements and the distance from home, com- 
bine to render my uniting with the sons and daughters of 
old Campton on this occasion, an impossible thing. 

The opportunity thus afforded for the gathering togeth- 
er of the great family around the ancient hearths and the 
homes of childhood, cannot be prized too highly ; and I 



94 Centennial Celebration. 

feel assured that nothing but the most urgent necessities 
will occasion the absence of any one, who claims the hills 
and valleys of Campton as his by birthright. 

I am well aware that the loss in this instance is irre- 
parable and all my own, for the pleasure I should derive 
from being present would be far greater than any I could 
confer. Knowing as I do, that among the thousands who 
will avail themselves of your invitation, there will be 
man J'' whose names, not unknown to fame, we delight to 
honor, it would afford me more gratification than words 
can express, to meet them on the spot "dearer than all 
on earth beside," and together with them, receive the 
greetings of those who have never wandered from their 
first and only home, but who, through all life's vicissi- 
tudes, have clung to the old homestead as to a holy thing. 
But all this gratification I must forego and console ni}^- 
self as best I may for my disappointment. Trusting that 
the contemplated re-union of the sons and daughters of 
Campton will be glorious and heart-refreshing to both 
residents and weary wanderers, allow me to discharge a 
small duty by ofi'ering the following sentiment : 

Our Native Town : Greener than her valleys and hill- 
tops in Spring-time, will her memory ever he in the hearts 
of her absent children. 

Yours truly, 

Samuel D. Baker. 



A Ceniennial Waif. 95 



A CENTENNIAL WAIF, 
ON THE PElVnGEWASSET EIVER, SEPTEMBER 12, 1867. 



BY B. FRANK PALMER, LL. D. 



[Written by request of the Committee of Arrangements of the first Cen- 
tennial Celebratioi* of the Town of Campton, N. H.] 



River fair ! here, wandering long ago, 

1 listened to thy murmurs, wild and low, 
When loitering on the bank, with shining wish, 
To find Pactolian sand, or golden fish. 

And forty seasons since, in infant pride. 

Talked with th}^ bubbling shoals, on Thornton' side ; 

Where pearlj^ ripples seize the orient beam. 

And mystic forms in mirror's beauty gleam. 

A sailor of three seasons, on time's tide, 

With whaleman's chances for a devious ride, 

Embarked, to pass the eddying ferry o'er, 

And gained this sheltering, wood-invested shore. 

A balking bull(>ck is a sorry yawl 

For stripling nerve to scull above a fall ; 

A saddled centaur might as well be manned 

By infant mermaid round a coral strand. 

The dashing wherr^^ drank the sparkling spray, 

While trusty pilot walked the watery way ! 

Thus steering o'er the wild, uncharted course, 

i now survey on wing of reinless horse. 

My conscious life-boat hailed the impending strife. 

And " walked the waters like a thing of life." 

Portentous fathoms strode with prowess grand, 

Till surging stream and beetling bank were spa nned. 

And now, as then, I may not stop, to choose 



96 Centennial Celebration. 

To ride or run ; to row or rein ; to use 
Or bow or spur ; to paddle, scull, or sail ; 
To pause, in mid-stream effort, is to fail. 
Constrained, I float on thro' serial tide, 
To note the ethereal forms that o'er thee glide ; 
And, fly or fall, the goddess I will thank. 
Who wings me coyly o'er the cradled bank. 
For here I earliest saw the star-gemmed morn 
Descend, with Ceres, o'er her waves of corn ; 
To tinge the dew-drop with prismatic light, 
And lift the azure robe from blushing night. 
The dawning song life's lullaby awhile. 
My infant joys to crown, and woes beguile ; 
Till Fancy fringed with flowers' sunny way. 
And hope half blossomed 'neath the genial ray. 
In Youth's, dreams beheed the laurel wave, 
Whereat a smile of promise gave ; 
And here above thy velvet-vestured shore, 
The coy nymph shall weave the laurel evermore. 
The m3^stic muse shall steal thy banks along, 
Inspiring here some son of lofty song ; 
And genii, from the old Parnassian fount, 
Shall linger round Franconia's mantled mount ; 
To quaft' the bliss I see, and thej^ may sing, 
Who tune their harps by the castalian spring ; 
But none, beneath the inspiring goddess' wand, 
Shall feel more joy to see thy blooms expand. 
Here plucked the evergreen when hope was young, 
And listened, raptured, to thy sylvan tongue ; 
Here Youth shall garland Time's centennial urn 
With woven immortal, and joy eterne. 
And if the breezy vale shall bear along 
Through echoing groves, to live in infant song, 
The strain that lingers in each burning thought. 
Not all in vain have I mv tribute wrouoht. 



A Cefiteunial Waif. 95 



A WAIF ON THE PEMIGEWASSET RIVER. 



BY B. FRANK. PALMER, LL. D. 



[Written by request of the Committee of Arrangements of the first Cen- 
tennial Celebration of the Town of Campton, N. H.] 



River fair ! here, wandering long ago, 

1 listened to thy murmurs, wild and low, 
When loitering on the bank, with shining wish, 
To find Pactolian sand, or golden fish. 

And forty seasons since, in infant pride. 
Talked with thy babbling shoals, on Thornton side ; 
Where pearly ripples seize the orient beam. 
And mystic forms in mirror'd beauty gleam. 

A sailor of three seasons, on time's tide, 
With whaleman's chances for a devious ride, 
Embarked, to pass the eddying ferry o'er. 
And gain this sheltering, wood-invested shore. 
The dashing wherry* drank the sparkling spray, 
Wliile trustj^ pilot walked the watery way — 
Thus steering o'er the wild, uncharted course, 
I now survey on wing of reinless horse. 
My conscious life-boat hail'd th' impending strife, 
And " walked the waters like a thing of life ;'' 
Portentous fathoms strode with prowess grand, 
Till surging stream and beetling bank were spanned. 
And now, as then, I may not stop, to choose 
To ride or run ; to row or rein ; to use 
Or bow or spur ; to paddle, scull, or sail ; 
To pause, in mid-stream effort, is to fail. 
Constrained, I float on the serial tide, 

*A young ox. 



96 Centennial Celebration. 

To note th' ethereal forms that o'er thee glide ; 
And, fly or fall, the goddess I will thank, 
Who wings me coyly o'er the cradled bank. 
For here I earliest saw the star-gemmed morn 
Descend, with Ceres, o'er her waves of corn ; 
To tinge the dew-drop with prismatic light, 
And lift the azure robe from blushing night. 
The dawning sang life's lullaby awhile, 
My infant joys to crown, and woes beguile ; 
Till Fancy fringed with flowers youth's sunny way, 
And hope half blossomed 'neath the genial ray. 
In boyhood-dreams beheld the laurel wave, 
When the coy nymph, a smile of promise gave ; 
And here, above thy velvet-vestured shore, 
The nj-mph shall weave the laurel evermore. 
The mystic muse shall steal thy banks along, 
Inspiring here some son of lofty song ; 
And genii, from the old Parnassian fount. 
Shall linger round Franconia's mantled mount ; 
To quaflf the bliss I see, and the}^ may sing, 
Who tune their harps by the Castalian spring ; 
But none, beneath th' inspiring goddess' wand. 
Shall feel more joy to see thy blooms expand. 
Here plucked the evergreen when hope was young, 
And listened, raptured, to thy sylvan tongue ; 
Here youth shall garland Time's centennial urn 
With palm and laurel leaf, in joy eterne. 
And if the breezy vale shall bear along 
Through echoing groves, to live in infant song. 
The strain that lingers in each burning thought, 
Not all in vain have I my tribute wi'ought. 
A heart-beat, pulsing in the tide of time, 
Inspires the verse I bring (in faulty rhyme) 
The century-bloom will close on morning's verge, 
And fold the record in the cycle's surge. 



Centennial Waif. 97 

And thus upon the ebbing wave I trace 
An imaged thought, which time may not efface ; 
And FAITH (not fancy) liere with hope shall stray, 
To view the nymph that bears the bloom away. 
She will return ! He who the century gave, 
Will send the blossom round on refluent wave ; 
And then (from cruel critics meanwhile safe) 
Perchance some friend may catch my floating waif. 
The patient plant that blooms so fair to-day, 
Has waited ages for its tints so gay ; 

man, be patient ! wait the blooming hour. 
Snap not the bud, to lose th' immortal flower ! 

And now I come, from wanderings wide and long, 
To cast upon thy wave my waif of song ; 
Receive me kindly, as a child of thine. 
Returned to ioy at boyhood's sacred shrine. 
No chaplet from th' enchanted grove I bring — 
A little wild-flower grown by Friendship's spring ; 
Reset in genial soil, 'twill bloom again, 
As once upon your fair, expanding plain. 
Transplanted in the dews of early morn, 
The hovering cloud has watered rose and thorn — 
The bloom alone I bring, and fondly yield — 

1 plant no thorn within th' emblooming field. 
Here thought, aspiring o'er yon summits gray, 
From visual forms began the trackless way ; 
And leaving soon, too soon, the rural vale, 

To launch on youth's wild wave — to strand or sail, 
I bade adieu to sweetest pastoral charms. 
Where conscious beauty blossoms in thine arms ; 
But now, returned, I greet with manly pride 
Each old familiar spot I've joyed beside ; 
Here, respite from life's jar and jargon fiud, 
And all the sheaves of olden friendship bind. 



98 Ceyitennial Celebration. 

The hills are vocal, and the circling sphere 
In wavy cadence charms the listening ear ; 
From mast-head life I greet the natal bound, 
And hail the joys of the centennial round. 
A century past ! what visions spring to view ; 
What we call old our fathers hailed as new ; 
What they called old their fathers ne'er had seen — 
Our sons will say the same of us, I ween. 
The seventeen hundredth j^ear and sixty-seven, 
Saw, gliding 'neath the smiling crest of heaven. 
Thy mingling rivers, winding through the way 
Where the dread Indian ruled with savage sway. 
The placid Beebe's current stole along,* 
Its music blending with the savage song ; 
While o'er the valley spread, like waving sea, 
Wood stretched to w^ood, a vast immensity. 
Within the fastnesses and gorges dark. 
No click of flint had given the tinder spark ; 
No axe had sounded from the old elm's trunk ; 
No flash of firelock lit the sluggish punk ; 
Bleak, bald, and awful rose the giant forms 
Of granite mountains, battling with the storms ! 
But hark ! the mountains hail the listening sea — 
The wave, responsive, greeting sends to thee ! 
Though " westward" empire takes its onward way. 
As westward speeds the light of circling day, 
Our fathers trusted God's descending streams. 
His forests stretching 'neath auroral gleams ; 
They took their course along the ice-paved road, 
To fashion fate, and find this fair abode. 
As once the sons of Israel found their wa}^, 
Led by a pillar of the cloud by day. 
Which, changing to a glorious guiding light, 

*NOTE. Beebe's river is a smaller stream. Its confluence with the 
Pemigewasset is in Campton, if I mistake not. The name may have been 
changed, or my spelling may not be correct. 



Centennial Waif. 99 

A pillar'd fire led on by starless night ; 

As trustful march'd thej^ o'er the Red Sea bank, 

Nor asked if any in the tide e'er sank ; 

Our fathers crossed a sea of ice, well shod, 

With Christian sandals ; faith and trust in God — 

They to the plow had put the firm right hand, 

To look not back till gained this chosen land ; 

Through wintry wilds urging their way they trode, 

Or on the thong-lashed, snow-shoe sledges rode. 

Unbroken woods, red faces, hail and snow ; 

Mad rivers, ice-bound rills, (that ceased to flow ;) 

Rapacious beasts, whose predatory rounds 

Recrossed the way that skirts the valley's bounds ; 

Descending blasts, that swept the forests through ; 

No vegetation sprang to cheer the view ; 

Ice, ice below, and ice-girt caves around, 

Where grizzly wolf and surly bear were found ; 

On ev'ry side a cheerless view was given, 

And clouds portentous hid the light of heaven ! 

Behold the friends that met them at the gate ; 

Behold the scenes through which they fashioned fate ; 

Of later day the mountaineer will tell 

How the gaunt, hungry wolf stood sentinel, 

Beside the hut that held his all of life — 

His cradled children and his weeping wife. 

While the wild Indian from the thatch would stoop 

And thrill the forest with his hideous whoop ! 

The woodman, seated, once upon the shore 

Yon mountain towers in lofty grandeur o'er, 

With scanty dinner spread on frost}^ pan, 

Beheld that old colossal granite man ! 

Eternal Rockface ! seated mountain high. 

In solemn majesty 'twixt earth and sky, 

The rock-ribbed fastness holding in his hand ; 

The lightnings hurling from his gleaming wand ; 



100 Centennial Celebration. 

Ill granite might he stormward sets his face, 
"Wlien the tornado rocks his ancient place ; 
Divides the whirlwind with his locks of gray, 
And bathes his forehead at the fount of day ! 
Arise, to touch the lofty theme, O muse ! 
On stronger wing ascend to loftier views ; 
Th' eternal hills centennial homage bring — 
The valley blooms — a hundred seasons sing. 
An hundred years ! O that same sleeping seer 
Might wake to lead centennially here ! 
Ye ancient bards who smote the conscious lyre — 
With breathing strain the silent string inspire ! 
The watchful shepherds saw the joyful flight 
Above Judea's plains, that radiant night 
When men, adoring, heard the new-made hymn 
Sung, to soft harps, by shining seraphim ; 
Then choral stars found jubilant employ. 
And hill to vale proclaimed th' extatic joy. 
Which rolls, melodious, o'er these natal plains. 
And claims the tribute of your highest strains. 
Here Faith, while circling years and cycles fade, 
Will stand in all the bloom of youth arrayed ; 
To cheer the heart whose faint devotion springs, 
As joy centennial through the ages rings. 
And may each listening mortal, not in vain, 
Scale yon gray dome to catch th' inspiring strain ; 
As century mile-stones mark the flying round. 
And reedy groves prolong the joyful sound. 
Fair Campton ! not as I beheld of yore — 
I now behold the visions floating o'er ; 
Not wholly thine the change — for, since that day, 
From boyhood's eyes the mists have passed away. 
Then fays and fairies round the mountain walked. 
Ere the small crib, (with smaller knowledge stocked) 
A better rampart furnished, of defence — 



Centennial Waif. 101 

Or budding wisdom bade th' intruders hence ! 
Thy hills then rose and pierced the heavens as now, 
The moon, ascending, lingered on thy brow, 

Lafayette ! while glowing Red Hill's crest, 
Dissolved in green and gold — O vision blest ! 
Then, towering Washington, above the cloud 
His lofty forehead reared in triumph proud ; 
Dim distance gave a charm to parting day, 
As night closed o'er a sea of turrets gray ; 
Thy rivers were as clear, thy woods as grand, 
(The pine and cedar kissed by zephyr bland,) 
But I, a simple stripling, only knew 

Thy mountains hid the outer world from view, 

Thy hills survej^ed, only to learn the rule 

For easiest scaling — on the way to school ! 

Sweet vale ! I own th' enchantment of the scene. 

Where meadows wave in wealth of gold and green ; 

Where forests vocal spread in vast expanse, 

And fleecy clouds around the mountain dance ! 

Enchanting njanph ! with trappings of a bride. 

And floral cestus gleaming at thy side ; 

The lily of the valley veils thy charms. 

And conscious tendrils clasp thy jewelled arms. 

Dissolving day and kindling morn, unite 

To blend their beauties in ethereal light ! 

Aurora, from the loftiest peak of dawn, 

Flings blossoms dew-gemmed o'er the glittering lawn ; 

Above the banks the elm. and elder spring, 

Where meadow-warblers plume their breasts and sing ; 

Or, heavenward rise to greet the earliest beam, 

That shines, reflected, in thy crystal stream ! 

1 gaze with joy on the translucent wave. 
Where modest flower-de-luce and lily lave ! 
Where honej^-suckles blush above the spring. 
And bii'ds pause, humming, on ethereal wing. 



102 Centennial Celebration. 

"WTiere corn-crown'd bill-sides rise, on either hand, 

And mellow pumpkins cover all the land ; 

The grape and cherr}^ ripen o'er the rill, 

Where sings the jay, or moans the whippoorwill. 

Where incense, o'er th' emblooming intervale, 

Fills every leaf, and spreads on every gale ; 

As gentle zephyr glides, at eventide. 

On balmy wing ! along the river-side ; 

Where fountains fresher than Parnassian rills, 

Give sweeter draughts than fabled grove distils ; 

Inspiring incense, which the gods might pour 

From golden ewers, the laureled landscape o'er ; 

Where laureate bards might surfeit as they sing, 

As bees their freightage bear on vocal wing ! 

Where shadow}^ forms float o'er the waving field. 

And vine-clad bowers luxuriant fruitage yield ; 

Where hill-tops roll in waves of ripening grain, 

And crimson berries cover all the plain ; 

The vernal maple pours nectarean draughts. 

And all the air delicious sweetness wafts ; 

Where blooming clover tufts the vestured vale. 

And golden harvests bid the fai'mer hail ! 

With sheaves of corn the terraced banks abound. 

And rising mounds of butternuts are found ! 

The farmer now, with shining scj^the in hand, 

Goes thoughtful forth, with visage bronzed and bland ; 

To take the serried lines of wavering grass, 

And round the bastioned field in triumph pass ! 

The lad now drives the " lowing herd " away. 

And hastes to shake and spread the new-mown hay ; 

While the young robin tries his earliest strain, 

As Phoebus wheels his chariot up the plain ; 

The roving kine on flowery hill-tops graze, 

Or wander through the wild, entangled maze ; 

And bleating lambkins range the rocky pass. 



Centennial Waif. 103 

To crop the dewy blossoms from the grass. 

The lad, returned, takes spreading-stick in hand, 

As cautious conjurers lift the wizard wand ; 

Spreads the green swarth with curvilinear shake, 

Then hastes the hill-side, (not the hay) to rake. 

The patient ox wheels up the towering sheaves, 

Where twittering swallows line the sheltering eaves ; 

And fingered forks unlade the banded freight, 

O'er topmost beam, where sportive ushers wait. 

The grass all spread — and stowed the garnered grain — 

The lad is off to " spread" (himself) again; 

With truant comrades, through the wood he strays 

To stone the birds and squirrels by the ways ; 

Up the high hill he wends his devious course, 

Where brooklets babble from the rocky source ; 

The rock he tumbles from the shelving edge. 

With bound concentric sweeps the trembling ledge ; 

He bends his way where blooming clover yields 

The bee's fresh treasure, o'er the balmy fields, 

To where the frantic bob'link tears his throat. 

And mounts the sky to raise one dreadful note ; 

Secures the truant's seat, or laggard's stool. 

By wayward wandering from the way to school ! 

" Again you're tard}' — w^hat excuse to-day" ? 

" I had to do the chores, and spread the hay ! 

" I ran as fast as ever I could go ; 

" I rather guess the sun, or — something's slow ! 

" The son is slow, and something must be done, 

" To hurry up this lagging, truant son; 

" The offence is great — too grave for hazel-sprout — 

" Sit with the girls ! until the boys go out." 

A sorry sentence — shocking ev'ry sense. 

And bafliing all his lore of mood and tense ; 

The neuter verb, " to sit," is active found — 

The mood, indicative — of giggling round ! 



104 Centennial Celebration. 

The facts and Murray don't agree, and hence 
He thinks the perfect is th' imperfect tense. 

The milkmaid, tripping at the early dawn, 

With well-filled pail across the dewy lawn, 

Blithe as the robin pours the morning strain, 

Where echoing groves repeat the old refrain. 

Anon, she turns the bright, unfreighted pail, 

And tells impatient ears the nursery tale ; 

The burnished pewter glistens in its place, 

Each old familiar mug has smiling face. 

The morning board a settle now becomes, 

And where it stood the whizzing flax- wheel hums. 

The distaff turns, like Galileo's w^orld, 

As from its rim the flaxen fibres twirled, 

Like Franklin's twine the electric tingle sends 

Along the line to burning fingers' ends ! 

While, in the barn, is heard the steady click — 

Of patient farmer's swinging swingle-stick ; 

Addresses paying to the stubborn flax. 

Whose ends must wane, that cobbler's ends may wax. 

Like tireless pendulum of ancient clock. 

His hours of toil he numbers, stroke on stroke, 

The floating fibres in the dressing maul'd — 

Form round his rounded poll, too early bald, 

And thus, from useful toil, at night returns, 

To where the hemlock backlog cracks and burns ; 

Sinks in the settle with a peruke big — 

Like English baronet in periwig. 

The annual " Trainings " of the time gone by, 
Reviewed, old friend, by us — when you and I 
Met on the muster-ground just by yon hill. 
Will " march along " in pleasant mem'ry still ! 
The great Militia — Floodwood-Infantry, 



Centennial Waif. 105 

Light Infantry, and crazy Cavalry, 

Came marching, riding, limping to the squeak — 

I hear even now the fife and bugle speak ! 

'Tis well, ye Wellingtons of Campton plain, 

That j'^our Napoleons lived to fight again ! 

When Yankee, Yankee met in mortal fray, 

Both armies whipped ; each gained the glorious day ! 

When " in they went" — then came of war the tug — 

Crack ! went decanter — bang ! went broken jug — 

Even feather'd Generals shared the general joy, 

With banner'd regiment, and barefoot boy ! 

The " Raising " was a time uproarious, not 

To be ignored, neglected, or forgot ; 

The old house must be razed, and raised the " new " — 

One falls to earth, the other springs to view — 

Up, up, it goes — a hundred-shoulder tug, 

Down, down, it flows — from flask, decanter, jug : 

All in good spirits to their homes repair. 

Their castles bracing in the bracing air. 

A little getting up, and getting down 

Of spirits, mark the growth of man and town ; 

And if a man may ever (once) carouse. 

It should be when he rears a dwelling-house ! 

The " Husking," " Paring bee," and such as that 

Behold — the youth pared ofl", in quiet chat ; 

The red ears found, the ominous seeds declared. 

The corn — acknowledged — and the lovers paired ! 

I note the old brown school-house, on the hill — 

(Roll back those school-boy days — let these stand still) 

I mark the hollow, where the high bridge stood 

Rock-braced, against the roaring, raging flood 

Whose surging tides in bursting torrents tear 

The riven gorge, through which it rages there. 

Fit emblem thou, of man, O restless stream — 



106 Centennial Celebration, 

Above thy falls the limpid waters gleam — 
Above the falls, man seldom stops to think 
How soon the life-boat strikes the cataract's brink ; 
But, rave ye waters — stand ye flinty rock I 
The centuries old have felt thy throbbing shock ; 
Steer well, O boatman — gird ye for the leap, — 
Hold fast the oar, and skim the vortex deep ! 
The raging stream whose angry torrents bound. 
In whirling surges to the level ground ; 
Goes singing through the meadow to the main, 
Its music mingling with the soul's refrain. 
How like th' unguided youth's impetuous course- 
It glides, then dashes from the placid source ; 
Now, far meandering through the mazy glen ; 
Now, backward turning to th' abodes of men ; 
The widening current of this pulsing life. 
Winds through broad fields of duty — joy and strife — 
Till run its course, (if well), in conscious pride 
Shakes hands with Time, and mingles with the Tide ! 
Thus ever, ever, ever, on like thee, 
Man, moved or moving, passes to the sea ; 
O, may my falls, like thine, precede the flow 
Of tranquil waters through the vale below ! 
So may we all, on Time's impetuous stream, 
Sail for that port whose crj^stal waters gleam ; 
And bear, at last, the fruitage of life's plain. 
On stronger current to the boundless main. 

Stand on yon hill where the old school house stood 

Like bastion'd fortress, high above the flood ; 

Look down within the awful gorge — behold 

The cave, where silver (sought,) sank farm and gold, 

That riven rock the primal ages saw 

At time's first dawning, without seam or flaw ; 

But, touch'd by speculation's wizard wand, 



Centennial Waif, 107" 

It belch'd forth fossils, fire and yellow sand. 

Not sand Pactolian — with the " nuggets " fraught, 

Not that for whicli the awful cave was wrought ; 

There speculation bored, through farm and flint, 

A sinuous hole — and sank the farm within't. 

You well remember how, on quivering foot. 

The hopeful mortals sought the shining " root ". 

And how, alas ! we saw the " opening" close. 

O'er all their hopes — but not o'er all their woes. 

This much, lest superstitious eyes behold 

The awful labyrinth, of which I've told, 

And think it pierced old primeval rock 

And never felt the speculation shock ! 

A haunt for ghouls or fays from time untold. 

And not a cave where Fortune hid her gold. 

No subterranean sprite or goblin grim 

Shall loiter there upon the rivers brim ; 

Shake not ye tremulous wights that venture there, 

No monetary wizard — bull or bear — 

Will greet you in that Wall street under ground — 

Go in — explore — there's something to be found ! 

There is, for some bold youth, an opening still ; 

The yellow dirt exists in that great till ; 

And if you find (secure from waste or harm,) 

The old deposits safe — you'll find a farm ! 

I well remember how the money flew. 

In quarts, (not granite quartz) and you, 

Old friend, who rose with me to read and spell, 

Remember how its issues rose and fell ! 

I kept no record of the rise or fall. 

Or circulation ; but opine that Wall 

Or even State Street, in their blasting way. 

Not more than equals, in this greenback day. 

Thus, speculations run into the ground — 

The " root," more seldom than the evil's found — 



i08 Centennial Celebration. 

■» 

The " love " of money lures, now here, now there, 

friend, of such a miser love, beware ! 

Much might be better said (in better rhymes,) 
Of habits, manners, customs and the times ; 
Had not our Orator, in glowing deed, 
Held up the mirror till we see, not read ; 
'Tis well, to me the rhyming range is given, 
Where minstrel ne'er has sung nor poet striven ; 
O'er broadest fields the muse has sought the forms 
Of worth and beauty, that survive the storms 
Of chance and change ; to paint, as best I may. 
The characters that live while men decay. 
But while beneath th' immortal theme I stand, 
The conscious coloring fades in artless hand ; 
And thus, I trace upon the canvas nought 
As it has shone in ev'ry burning thought. 
But, ere I note the deeper thought that springs, 

1 pass to touch the tops of passing things ; 
To wile away my half-hour, and with you 
The charms of life in social joy renew. 

Since we all left the old brown school-house last, 

The college, (if not entered) has been past ; 

The " learned professions," must have learned to yield 

For fairer promise in a broader field ! 

Your sons (all bachelors of noblest art) 

Appear to claim their high commencement part ; 

And if no learned Professors grace the fete^ 

Your men (of faculty) adorn the State. 

Your, teeming fields — ye sturdy 3^eomanry , 

From, envy's eye and traflflc's train are free ; 

Here, guided, thought ma}^ view the loftier plain, 

Where Wisdom binds her sheaves of golden grain. 

Old Galileo said — the earth " does move " ! 

This truth your steeds with steaming nostrils prove ; 



Centennial Waif. 109 

O'er yon bald peak the bridled lightning flies — 

The brazen steed to herald np the skies ! 

Now genius threads the sea with conscious wire — 

Equator calls to pole with tongue of fire ; 

And harnessed Thought transcends all mythic flight, 

As flaming chariots wheel the star-paved height / 

The muse, delighted, pauses here to note 

The changes that along the seasons float ; 

Since our young fathers came, through fortune's frown, 

To build a home, and dedicate a Town — 

To view the pleasures toil and genius bring, 

And winnow fact from fancy, on the wing. 

Now, garner'd wealth foils speculation's flight ; 

As fiery fountains flood the world with light — 

Nevada yields her gold, for iron pave 

To band the prairie to Pacific's wave / 

Ye who ne'er leave th' expanding intervale, 

Nor from yon summits view the bellying sail ; 

Heirs of the sod, ye know not of the charms, 

That Nature holds in her extended arms / 

Ye cannot know how fair, how passing grand. 

The landscape where your cottage-houses stand ; 

Ye see the " hay stacks" in the distance rise, 

Ascend them/ and commune with earth and skies. 

O GENIUS, lead the way — the truth confess — 

Emancipate, restore, redeem and bless. 

Hope, undismayed, has waited for thee long ; 

Religion has not purged the land from wrong — 

(Though nearer truth a weeping Nation stood 

While passing through War's great baptismal flood.) 

And ye who read my verse, bear with me well. 

If I am wrong, the rising age will tell ; 

If I am right — O Freeman, soldier brave. 

Give thanks to God that He has raised the slave. 

And never, never, never, nevermore, 



110 Centennial Celebration. 

May Christian bolt the ransomed Freedman's door ; 
But see in Nature, God's unerring plan- 
Impartial Freedom is the right of man ! 
Our fathers, through the forests, heard the roar 
Of hostile cannon on the eastern shore ; 
They left their homes to save this glorious land 
And, gaining freedom, rested by the strand. 
The grand reveille of the cannonade, 
From Bunker Hill call'd to this peaceful glade 
In thunders audible — the low sub-base 
Of War's great organ, shaking Time and space ! 
Then turned the fathers backward, to the sea, 
To strike for Country, God and Liberty ! 
To fling the gate of glorious canopies ope — 
That sons of toil might see the light of hope ! 
Shared is the honor by the gallant son 
Whose father's father fell in fioht beorun ! 
Enough of duty for their strength and day, 
The forest, crown, and Treason all gave way ; 
Their lives show much of manly duty done — ■ 
There's something, still, of victory to be won ! , 
Thy son, New Hampshire, gave the earliest blood 
That mingled with the wave of War's last flood. 
At early dawn of most illustrious day, 
The seal was broke — the stone was rolled away ; 
And O, may He who burst the bolted tomb, 
Raise our dear land in freedom's deathless bloom ! 
" Good will on earth " — let '^ peace " descend again, 
And North with South unite in sweet refrain ; 
Redeeming love has crowned heroic fight — 
A race redeemed — a morn to slavery's night ! 

Our fathers' faith caught freedom's earliest beam. 
That through the conflict shed a fitful gleam ; 
And through Time's vistas led the onward w^ay 



Centennial Waif. Ill 

Adown the ages, to this glorious clay ! 

Their light shone in the future ; bright, intense. 

Unseen till angel voices called them hence. 

As we survey the records, clear and bright, 

Their pillar glows in lines of living light ! 

Hard by yon ridge where stood my father's cot, 

(The winding lane and gateway mark the spot) 

Behold, prepared, a more enduring home, 

From which their weary feet may never roam. 

Abode most fair ! no frosts — no wintry air — 

Nor Time — nor change — can mar the mansion fair ; 

No toils unfinished — no descending sun ; 

No hastening night, to close the task undone ; 

No blighted hopes — no friendships broken there ; 

No slanderer's tongue, to taint the peaceful air ; 

No thirst for gain — no strife for power, or place ; 

No furrow'd lines upon the anxious face ; 

No sin — no sorrow — no farewells — no tears ; 

No young hopes mingled with consuming fears ; 

No expectations false — no friends untrue ; 

No scenes of separation chill the view ; 

But one great gathering scene of friends, again — 

Unmarked by centuries of toil and pain ; 

As, one by one, in closing ranks they come, 

We note our " day's march nearer, nearer Home " ! 

And who will say, unseen, they may not view 

This joy centennial, which I share with you? 

Else, why so full, so perfect, so complete 

The common joy, if but the children meet? 

A little season since, just by the spot 

On which this happy home-throng sees them not, 

I shared, with them, the almost rapturous joy, 

To happy hearers sang — a happy boy ! 

The simple strains then tuned, in artless glee. 

My little singer now returns to me. 



112 Centennial Celebration. 

Does fancy err ? still, on its pinion free, 

Old friend, I'll think thy parents list to thee/ 

And, be it so, tell j-e th' uugarnished truth ; 

The simple story of their age and youth ; 

And monumental bust ye need not raise, 

Nor lettered pomp, to consecrate their praise. 

Descended in a more than royal line, 

Ye sons of toil, your hopes, your joys are mine ; 

Let others boast heraldic fame, and birth ; 

Sons of the great who rule th' affairs of earth ; 

But ye may boast, and none dispute your claim, 

An ancestry whose worth is not in name ; 

Whose modest merit gives example bright, 

Whose histor}'' glows in acts of living right. 

" Their names and j^ears " it matters not to tell. 

On deeds, not names, the muse delights to dwell ; 

Theu' record read o'er all the furrow'd ground, 

" Who seeks their epitaph, should gaze around " / 

Such were the men, intelligent and true, 

Who felled the forests, cleared the fields we view ; 

Such the firm yeomanry — a State's best wealth, 

Whose hope was happiness, whose fortune health.. 

My parent-pilot, (to this sheltering shore,) 

O'er pearly wave still passes on before ! 

Of fate, or fortune, now no more the sport — 

Through quiet haven passed to tranquil port. 

Affection claims — I yield the homage due — 

These furrowed fields an imaged form renew ; 

Devotion filial all these scenes constrain — 

That close, and ope the century's gate again / 

And one, I notice — one, m}^ noble friend, 
Who, ah ! too early reach'd the journey's end ; 
One, who has given the Granite Hills a tongue — 
And gone — to hear his own sweet music sung ; 



Centennial Waif. 113 

One, whom in my poor verse I need not name, 

Since hill and vale are vocal with his fame ; 

With whom (an honor of whic^h justly proud), 

I scaled yon mountain-peak, above the cloud — 

Drank rarest bliss from the supernal height, 

O'er which his genius took its lofty flight / 

From the charm'd haunts explored with joy elate, 

He turned, reluctant, for the Golden Gate, 

Which soon was reached — and soon (life's journey o'er) 

He found repose on a still fairer shore. 

Just when his towering genius saved a State — 

(Fame wove the civic wreath for him to wait) 

When East and West clasped hands in jo}^ to fling 

The victor's crown on their young idol, King — 

Then, Wave to Mountain roll'd a tidal sigh — 

And earth unbarred the portal of the sky ; 

In sunset glory — radiant in its flight, 

A STAR was lost in Morn's celestial light.* 

Life has been busy — more a page of prose, 

And earnest effort, than poetic woes — 

By kindliest invitation, I have wrought 

My little verse, with little merit fraught : 

My half-hour, fleeting, hastens to its close — 

I've jotted as I could — not as I chose ; 

From further rambling 3'ou will soon be safe — 

For now the current bears away my waif! 

Arise, O man ! to nobler, higher aims ; 

A loftier life still higher effort claims ; 

To loftiest theme, then, bend the stubborn will, 

♦Note. The late, Reverend T. Starr King, and William H. Richardson, 
Esq., ascended Mount Washington, with the writer, on horseback, in the 
autumn of 1859. That was the httieth, and, it is believed, the last ascent of 
the mountain by the illustrious Divine; of whose closing career Lieutenant 
General Wiufield Scott stated, that California would have sided with Ti-ea- 
son (in 1860) if the young and gifted King had not devoted his genius, and 
given the power of his lofty elocjuence, ti-aversing the State, in the cause of 
his country and of freedom. The United States Senatorship was spoken of 
as his reward. 



114 Centennial Celebration. 

And gain, each night, a day's march up the hill. 

Now springs to view the quaint old meeting-house, 

Where first I listened to Devotion's vows ; 

More sacred still appears the ancient form. 

Which sheltered youth from sin's descending storm. 

More than a century's third has passed away — 

But that " first lesson" passed not with the day ! 

O, what a " Word " — a helm of saving power, 

For fainting pilgrims in the mortal hour. 

Teach me, O precious Word — I still would learn 

The good to gain — the evil to discern ; 

Save from intruding love of fruitless fame ; 

The cymbal-tinklings of a hollow name ; 

Save from Ambition false — that phantom thing 

With tongue of siren, and with scorpion sting ; 

O man ! the song she sings o'er flowing bowl, 

Will drown the senses, desolate the soul. 

Then take th' Evangel for th}^ guard, and guide, 

And thou, on steady wing, shalt upward glide 

Through all the hovering clouds of boding ill, 

And gain, at last, the summit of life's hill. 



Names of the Early iSettlers of Campton. 115 



NAMES OF THE EARLY SETTLERS. 

Names of the early settlers of the town of Camptoii, the date 

of their comhig to town, — the number of their families, — and 
the region from whence they came : 

1762. Lsaac Fox, Conuecticiit. 

1762. Winthrop Fox, a nephew. 

1763. Isaac Fox, Jr., and his mother and his family. 

1763. Enoch Taylor, and family. 

1764. Joseph Spencer, son of Gen. Jabez Spencer. 

1768. Abel Willey, seven children, the fifth family in town. 

1769. Bennijah Fox, the son of Isaac, Jr., was the first male 

child born in town. A daughter of Hobart Spen- 
cer, was born the same year. 

1769. Hobart Spencer, six children. 

1769. Darius Willey, seven children. 

1769. Moses Little, six children. Massachusetts. 

1769. Samuel Fuller, six children. 

1769. Daniel Wyalt, nine children, Massachusetts. 

1769. David Perkins, eight children, Massachusetts. 

1769. Joseph Pulsifer, eleven children, Massachusetts. 

1769. Gershom Burbank, six children, Massachusetts. 

1770. Asa Spencer, seven children, Connecticut. 
1770. Jesse Willey, eight children, Connecticut. 
1770. Ebenezer Taylor, three children, Connecticut. 
1770. Joseph Palmer, three children, Massachusetts. 
1770. Samuel Cook, nine children, Massachusetts. 
1770. Nathaniel Tupper, five children, Massachusetts. 

1770. James Harvel. 

1771. Samuel Holmes, Connecticut. 

1771. Jonathan Cone, five children. 

1772. Israel Brauiard, five children, Connecticut. 

1772. Chiliab Brainard, five children, Connecticut. 

1773. John Southmayd, nine children, Connecticut. 

1774. Selden Church, seven children, Connecticut. 

1774. Thomas Bartlett, fourteen children, Massachusetts. 

1775. John Holmes, seven children, Connecticut. 

1776. Carr Chase, eight children, Massachusetts. 

1777. Elias Cheney. 

1777. William Baker, sixteen children. 

1777. Dudley Palmer, eight children, Massachusetts. 

1778. Moses' Baker, three children. 

1778. Joseph Palmer, six children, Massachusetts. 
1778. Moody Cook, twelve children, Massachusetts. 
1778. Ebenezer Cheney, five children. 
1778. James Merrill, four children, Massachusetts. 
1778. Chauncey Holmes, five children, Connecticut. 
Homans, five children. 



116 Early Settlers, date of their coining, etc. 

1779. Joseph Homans, a son of Homans, two children. 

1780. Benjamin Balcer, three children. 

1780. Jonathan Burbanl-:, son of Gershom, six children. 

1781. Israel Blake, three children. 

1782. William Page, six children. 
1782. Edmond Marsh, eleven children. 

1782. John Marsh, thirteen children. 

1783. James Bnmp, seven children. 

1783. Jahez Chnrch, nine children. 

1784. Ezra Tnpper, four children. 

1785. David Bartlett, six children. 

1785. Ichabod Johnson, seven children, Allenstown. 

1785. John Clark, four children, Candia.' 

1785. John Homans, son of Homans, fourteen children. 

1786. Samuel Cook, Jr., ten children, Massachusetts. 

1787. Cutting Cook, son of Samuel, twelve children. 
1789. Enoch Merrill, nine children, Plymouth. 

1789. Edward Taylor, Oliver Taylor, sons of Eben, ten chil- 

dren. 
178-. Josiah Blaisdell, son of Nathaniel, eight children. 
David French, Massachusetts. 

1790. Ebenezer Bartlett, son of Thomas. 

1790. David Wooster, eight children, Connecticut. 
1790. Isaac Mitchell, eight children. 
1790. Ephraim Cook, son of Samuel, thirteen children. 
1790. Samuel Noyes, two children, Massachusetts. 
1790. Daniel Blaisdell, son of Nathaniel, eight children, Ches- 
ter. 
1790. Stephen Goodhue, seven children." 
1790. Ebenezer Little, son of Moses, eight children. 

1790. Ebenezer Bartlett, Jr., ten children. Massachusetts. 

1791. James Burbeck. fourteen children, Massachusetts. 
Rowland Percival. nine children, Connecticut, 
llowland Percival, Jr., nine or ten children, Connecti- 
cut. 

Nathaniel Blaisdell, three children, Chester. 

1792. Sanmel Johnson. 

1792. Joshua Rogers, four children, Connecticut. 

1792. Joseph Puisifer, Jr., son of Joseph, seven children. 

1792. Darius Willey, Jr., son of Darius, ten children. 

1793. James Little, son of Moses, nine children. 
1793. Joel Holmes, son of John, Ave or six children. 
1793. Jesse Hall. 

1793. Christopher Noyes, nine children, Massachusetts. 

1793. Stephen Giddings, eight children, Massachusetts. 
Moses Puisifer, son of Joseph, eight children. 
Stephen Giddings, nine children, Massachusetts. 
Samuel Chandler, three children, Hampstead. 

1794. Samuel Merrill, thirteen children, Plymouth. 
1794. Enoch Merrill, six children. 

1802. Elijah Hatch, seven children. 

1803. Thomas Cook, son of Samuel, eleven children. 



Roll of Honor. 117 

1804. Isaac ■^Yille3^ son of Darius, eioht children. 

1805. John Pulsifer, son of Joseph, eleven children. 
1805. Peter Blair, ten children. Holderness. 

1807. William Giddings, ei^ht children, Massachusetts. 

1809. Robert Smith, ten children. 

1820. Daniel Wyatt, son of Daniel, six children. 



CAMPTON'S ROLL OF HONOR. 



Second Begiment. 
John Chandler, wounded. William Alexander. 

Fourth Begiment. 

Walter S. Johnson, died of disease. 

Sixth Begiment. 

Hiram O. Berry. George L- Rogers. 

Charles E. Berry, died of disease. Keuben P. Smith. 

Heber L. Chase, wounded. Jasgn Webster, died of disease. 

Wm. W. Farmer, died ol wounds. Benjamin F. Bei*ry. 

Benjamin A- Ham. Luther Farmer, died of disease. 

Frank E. Hodgman, died of disease. Oliver W. Lovett. 

Kichard Pattee, wounded. Daniel M. Sanborn. 

Eighth Begiment. 

John S. Avery. Daniel Piper, wounded. 

Leonard P. Benton. 

Ninth Begiment. 

Luther S. Mitchell, taken prisoner. 

Twelfth Begiment. 

Martin V. B. Avery, wounded. D. F. A. Goss, taken prisoner, 
Edwin Avery, starved, taken priso- Avoimded. 

ner, wounded. N. Lyman Merrill. 

Ezra B. Burbank, taken prisoner, Albert Merrill, taken prisoner. 

wounded. John N. Marsh, died of disease. 

Rufus F. Bickford. Edwin Pronk. 

Orlando Durgin, died of disease. William H. Rogers, killed. 

C. C. Durgin, died of disease. William H. Stiokney, wounded. 

George W. Gordon, wounded. Orrin Wallace, killed. 

Thirteenth Begiment. 

Manson L. Brown. Nathan Pierce. 

Jason Elliot. Alfred Webster. 

Simon T. Elliot, killed. Wooster E. Woodbmy, wounded. 

Fourteenth Begiment. 

Abner H. Lougee. Freeman L. Moulton. 

John D. Morse. James O. Ward, wounded. 

Freeman Moulton. 



118 



Roll of Honor. 



Fifteenth Begiment. 



Henrv D. Wyatt. 

Fred A. Mitchell. 

Samuel S. Mitchell. 

Joseph C. Blair, Jr. 

Benjamin F. Adams, killed. 

Henry Cook, died on way home of 

disease. 
George A. Page, died on way home 

of disease. 
Cyrus Burbeck, died on way home 

of disease. 



Edwin A. Hart, died after reaching 
home of disease. 

Joseph Brown, Jr., died after reach- 
ing home of disease. 

William F. Mitchell. 

James F. Merrill. 

Geo. W. Plummer, wounded, died 
of wounds. 

David Webster. 

Charles H. Willey. 



Eighteenth Begiment. 



William E. Brown. 
William A. Chandler. 
Samuel H. Dow. 
Benjamin Evans, Jr. 
Ozias J. Holmes. 
John M. Purkis. 



John H. Plummer. 

John P. Patterson, died of disease. 

Horace W. Smith. 

George P. Tarlsen. 

William G. Thompson. 



Sharpshooters. 

Alfred E. Foss. 

Cavalry. 

Benjamin M. Johnson, taken prisoner and never heard from. 

Enlisted in other States. 



John M. Flint, surgeon. 
George Cook, died of disease. 
Steven Brown, died of disease. 
Danford M. Rowe. 
Harris B. Mitchell. 
Hermon C. Stickney. 



John C. Chase. 
Alfred Merrill. 
Geo. H. Keniston. 
George Smith. 
Clark Smith. 
Simeon D. Smith. 



Total enlistments in Regiments in the State, seventy-five. Total enlist- 
ments in Regiments in other States, twelve. Making total enlistments 
from Campton, eighty-seven. Six of whom were taken prisoners; four 
killed; fourteen wounded ; four died of wounds; eighteen died of disease. 

Number of substitutes funiished by citizens of Campton, thirty-seven. 
Number of men called for during the war, ninety-nine. Enlisted in town 
seventy-five. Recruits furnished, thirty-seven. Total, one hundred and 
twelve. Surplus, thirteen. 



'^ '>^:)»^y V V wv vymm^i^^iW^^ 






V/iWilV 



i,W;:^/i\ AV^ 






iMMMMi^ 



B 



W^mm 



:Vi^V 



y^W: 







M 






yii 



fi M 



iuukxim. 





014 013 534 3 



